


Snow filled days

by SharkPinata



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Don't expect consistant updates but i'll try, Drabbles, Fluff, Halloween, Happy Ending, Humor, Link is not a knight, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, My god I am tired, Pre-Calamity (Legend of Zelda), SINCE NOBODY IN THIS SHIP KNOWS WHAT THAT IS, Slow Burn, Weird mashup of botw and age of calamity, no beta we die like men, tsundere Revali
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:08:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 60,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26641198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharkPinata/pseuds/SharkPinata
Summary: Usually Link’s days were devoid of people, not unless he needed something, but not these days. An odd encounter had happened, and now he found himself with a rather unusual (and frequently appearing) visitor.(Updates Saturdays)Notice: No chapter this week, sorry guys :/
Relationships: Bazz/Prince Sidon (Legend of Zelda), Harth/Teba (Legend of Zelda), Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda), Saki/Teba (Legend of Zelda), Urbosa/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 679
Kudos: 579





	1. Company

The air was cold, it wasn’t new or surprisingly, it was always on the verge of freezing. Every breath took was crisp, cooling you from the inside out as warm lungs were exposed to frosty air. It was almost pure atmosphere.

The snow was picture perfect, so white, thick, and fluffy that it practically glowed when the sun was out. Surprisingly, there were still some scatterings of vegetation scattered around. Not very much color, but what little hue remained was muted, as if the frost had sucked the brightness out of everything else, leaving only snow.

He preferred it this way though, better too cold then too hot, and even then it never seemed to be too cold. Maybe at first the cold was overwhelming, restricting because he wasn’t built for the weather, but eventually he got used to wearing thick, fluffy, warm clothes everywhere. The mountains were steep and frosty, unbearable to anyone who didn’t know their stuff. 

But that was exactly why he liked it, people flocked to live in beachy, warm, sand filled areas. Here where the peaks touched the sky, there was hardly another soul around, and even those people would rather wrap up their business quickly to scurry back to where it was warm. No matter what day of the week you asked him, he’d rather be up the mountain braving the negative thermostat instead of the people milling below. 

It wasn’t like he didn’t like people, he was nice to talk to them, they just asked too many questions. Always who, what, when, how, and why?

This morning was a warm one, well, warm as it would get for this climate. The sun was beaming down for a few hours in the morning, though it wouldn’t last more than a day, he gave it maybe a day or two at most before the snow started whipping around again. Washing over everything to get rid of the prints from the day before. 

Usually Link’s days were devoid of people, not unless he needed something, but not these days. An odd encounter had happened, and now he found himself with a rather unusual (and frequently appearing) visitor.

Just as Link was trudging back up to the side of his house, a voice came from behind him. “You know, it’s very inconvenient for other people that you live this far out” they complained “There’s a difference between being a hermit and being just plain unreachable”.

Link turned, ‘You didn’t have to fly all the way up here’ he reminded Revali.

He set down the logs in his hands next to his house, refilling them for the week. In a snowy place like this, he couldn’t afford to let the fire go out unless he wanted to be an ice block. 

“You’re right, I didn’t. So you could at least be thankful someone is making sure you’re alive” the rito said. At first, Link thought that Revali was just an arrogant asshole, but he kept showing up for some reason. He wasn’t complaining, Revali could easily talk enough for the both of them, so it was company he could be quiet with. In a strange way, Link almost considered him a friend.

‘Thanks’ Link replied easily.

“Had to get away anyways or I was going to end up shooting someone” Revali huffed, “More travelers- a couple this time” he started up. Link smiled to himself as he got ready for Revali’s bi-weekly gripe session. He opened the door, Revali walked in easily to Link’s humble home.

9 gear mounts made up for the decoration in his house. 3 great elemental swords, 3 multi-shot bows, and Link’s favorite surfing shields (It was a great way to get down fast). A cooking pot, a rug, a bed, some chairs and a table made for the decorations. Other than that, it was rather bare. Revali sat down at the table, making himself comfortable in the little house as he continued blathering about what was bothering him so.

“They’re so annoying, newlyweds of all things. The husband is spineless, I walked past him yesterday and he nearly hopped over the railing. That woman however, is worse. She’s openly complaining about how boring it is here, and has eaten every single baked apple in town” Revali told Link.  
Link hummed in acknowledgement as he went to check on his soup. It was coming along nicely if he had to guess from the smell in the air. “I swear that marriage won’t last a month! I’ll end it myself if only to get them to leave. It’s a perfect exchange if you ask me, she doesn’t want to be here, I don’t want them here, I’m sure if she told her husband he’d give in and leave” Revali said.

Link gave a small peak under the pot lid. From inside rose the delicious scent of meat and chopped vegetables, mixed together to form something absolutely delectable. The reddish soup bubbled softly as bits of carrot and meat swirled around it enticingly. It was done, he could tell.

With no time to waste, he hopped to his feet to get a bowl, still silently listening to Revali’s regalement of events in rito village. Link had never been to rito village, but already knew enough from Revali alone. “I swear, rito gets the stupidest people. You want to know what I ran into a few days ago? A traveling chef. At rito village of all places. He was looking for recipes from us of all things, clearly he doesn’t know the first thing about rito if he doesn’t even know we can’t taste or smell well” Revali huffed. 

Honestly? That seemed to be the only deal breaker about Rito people in Link’s opinion. Revali once explained Rito mostly judge food on texture, most foods weren’t strong enough for them to actually taste. “I hate the warm season, too many people,” Revali sighed. Link tapped him on the shoulder, he turned, eyes lidded with exasperation that had clearly been building up.

“What?” He questioned, in Link’s hands were two bowls, he gestured to the pot in a clear question of do you want some?

“Er, sure” the other male accepted. Revali waited patiently as Link trotted to the pot, getting several thick servings into the bowls before bringing them back to the table. “Honestly, I swear everyone who thinks it’s a good idea to travel up here becomes thick from the cold air” he said. Link silently agreed with that as they sat down and started eating.

It was great, as expected from Link’s several years of trial and error with the cooking pot. The soup warmed him from the inside out, and the flavour burst in his mouth. It was a shame Revali couldn’t taste it, but that certainly didn’t stop the rito from eating it. Link, as he’d done so before with good food, wolfed it all down in a minute or two. 

“Geez” the rito huffed, “How can you not choke?” he asked, taking another bite. Link only made his way back to the cooking pot for seconds (and probably thirds, or fourths, The rest of the pot really). 

As the small blonde sat back down with a second bowl, he looked up at revali and asked a question which had been on his mind for a while. ‘What happened to the bowman from lanayru?’ 

During Revali’s last visit, over a week ago due to a terrible snowstorm, he’d complained about a hylian archer who had come to learn rito bowmanship. Pestering Revali about it until the rito flew up to Link's house to bitch about it.

“Bowman, hardly” Revali huffed as he took another bite. “I would never teach someone so… so…” he struggled to find the right adjective to describe the bowman. “So foolish!” he finally settled on. “I didn’t do anything with him, apparently after I flew off he went to pester Teba who finally took him to the flight range, and do you wanna know what that little clueless twig said?” Revali looked straight at Link, waiting for his answer.

Link polished off his second bowl, looking back at Revali and smiling with interest, ‘What?’ He asked.

“He said ‘I can’t shoot in mid-air’ Like that wasn’t the FIRST thing I told him when he stormed in, demanding we teach him Rito archery! Archery in the air! He couldn’t shoot something if it was two feet in front of him, I swear, tourist season is the WORST” Revali banged his hands on the table, er, wings, feathers?

“Serves Teba right, that idiot had no idea what he was doing” the prideful rito sat back in his chair and huffed. After a lengthy silence involving Link getting his 3rd serving, the rito finally opened his mouth again. “...so what do you even do on this mountain all day?” he questioned awkwardly. Link thought it nice he was trying to ask about his day.

‘Well, usually I hunt but today I went down for wood’ Link signed, ‘I was thinking of going down to the hot spring later, then maybe clearing out some of those pesky lizalfos that keep stealing from my woodpile’

“Hm” Revali said, “which hot spring?” he asked.

‘There’s one right down at the end of my shield surfing course, if you get enough momentum you can land right in it’ Link explained, it was his favorite thing to do on particularly boring days. 

“Wouldn’t that get you all wet?” Revali asked, at Link’s nod he huffed, “You’re strange, when are we leaving?” he asked.

Link smiled wryly at Revali’s insistence that he was coming along. Knowing the rito would argue it’s a public spring if he tried to say he was going alone. He didn’t mind too much though, despite his general dislike of people, he enjoyed the rito’s company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note: Link lives up in Selmie's spot for this and he's not a knight.


	2. Short

Not many things held Revali’s curiosity for long, to him things were very objective. He’d never really wanted to find out the why, the how, or the what of things. Kass got sick? Probably the Rain. Teba asked out Saiki? Alright, conversation ended there. Ice talus in Coldsnap Hollow? Might remember, but he could always just fly out over it.

Revali was almost notorious for being snippy with people, it was just how he was. He wasn’t angry at anything, wasn’t any type of ‘emotionally hurt’ or lashing out because of anything (well, maybe if he was annoyed). It was just how he was, he didn’t like people who talked over him.

Though, since meeting the blonde hylian he’d come to know as Link, he’d felt curiosity. At first, it was annoyance that they were practically ignoring him. Then he realized they were quiet, extremely so. Which Revali was grateful for, he liked that link was quiet. 

This little hylian became a puzzle to him. At first glance, he was small and scrawny, shrimpy even. Reavli assumed he only appeared a little thicker than a twig because of the thick coats he was never without in the Hebra region. Revali assumed he was new to Hebra, that he’d moved to the first place he could get to- even if it was a tiny cabin in the frozen mountains, like a reckless teenager. He was almost surprised to learn that the blonde had been living there for the better part of 2 years. 

He was curious, curious to pick apart this puzzle of a quiet person who lived in the coldest corner of Hyrule without so much as a complaint. Revali was almost famous for being an asshole at this point, yet Link took everything Revali said without so much as a twitch. He was as cool as the ice that frosted over his door on a daily basis. Revali wanted more, to see another side of him. Some hidden turmoil, a true color, something that made the pieces of Link click together in his mind besides quiet. That was why he kept visiting Link week after week. To see if there was something besides this quiet serenity that made up the small hylian. That was the only reason, at least, until today.

There had to be something, Revali rationalized. Some dark secret that meant he had to hide away from the rest of society for the rest of his days at the tender age of 18. Even if he didn’t look like it, there was something that made him the outcast.

Revali was flying up towards the mountain again. The light flurry in the air was no match for him. He was gazing at the oncoming mountain, looking for the little dot of brown behind all of the whiteness that was Link’s house, when he absentmindedly looked down, doing a double take just in time to swerve out of the way of a gigantic shimmering boulder.

He gawked for a second, before diving down to investigate. There, down in Coldsnap Hollow, was a frost talus. Even if it didn’t have a face, he could certainly tell it was mad. Not to mention, against the snowy slope, was Link, with a bow.

Now, Link looked far from intimidating. He was a teenager, only just coming into early adulthood, not to mention his height. Revali was almost eye level with most hylians, (he was still growing), but Link was still a full head shorter than him. In terms of height he was miniscule, yet somehow he still managed to wield weapons almost his size. 

As Revali watched from above, Link shot an arrow at the talus’s ore, knocking it off balance. As soon as it was off its feet, he scrambled up it’s torso with surprising speed and started hitting the chunk of ore with an iron sledgehammer almost his same height. The talus rumbled with fury, and Revali got a front row seat to watch Link get tossed off it’s back and into the snow. He sunk several inches in, creating a nice Link shaped hole as the talus regained it’s iciness.

Finally, Revali snapped out of his shocked silence. He pulled out his bow, aiming perfectly of course, and shot the talus as it started marching towards it’s target. The bomb arrow exploded, shattering the ore deposit on it’s back. In the back of his head he recalled that the ore was the only weak point, it was too dense everywhere else to properly break down.

It was a fatal blow, the talus slumped to the floor with a great thunk before bursting into violet smoke, leaving nothing but a big indent in the snow along with some rare, gleaming, gems. (He was planning on claiming that sapphire later, as compensation).

With a steep dive, he made his way down to land in the snow, seeing if Link survived or if he froze in the snow.

“Are you alive?” Revali asked, trying to hide his slight concern. Link slowly sat up from where he was practically enveloped in the snow bank, then had the nerve (the audacity!) to glare at Reavli for saving his life. 

‘Rude’ Link signed, shivering somewhat from the snow that nearly buried him.

“Rude? Rude?! I suppose I should’ve just let you get turned into flatted hylian then?” He hissed back, and here he was, thinking that maybe this poor fool might even be grateful for the save. For being saved in a single shot in a fight he was clearly losing.

‘You stole my talus’ Link signed, slowly getting to his feet. Revali’s brain puttered to a stop for a second, before he glared back with even more fiercity. 

“I stole nothing! You were about to get killed and I saved you, the least you could do is thank me!” He fumed. It was Link’s turn to look at him, with raised eyebrows as if Revali’s story was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard. 

Slowly, Link brought up his hands to say ‘I wasn’t in trouble, I was fighting it’, as if that cleared up everything.  
“Fighting it? Hah!” Revali crowed, “And how was that going?” he asked, not expecting an answer back. 

‘Pretty well actually’ Link responded, shocking Revali a little. He pulled out a bow of his own- a steel lizalfos bow, and some bomb arrows of his own. After he was sure Revali got a good look at it, he put it back and showed Revali the weapon on his back- a giant hammer. He certainly looked ready to fight a talus.

Still, Revali huffed, “You would've been splattered hylian” he muttered under his breath.

As if that wasn’t enough salt in the wound, the blonde before him shot a very sincere ‘Thank you for the help anyways’. Revali would love to accuse him of being a Liar, but he knew Link was being honest, and he hated it. Why? For a second he had gotten a reaction- a slight one, but anger nonetheless! What would it take if not for a fight with a giant monster?

For a second, Revali almost considered following him just to kill anything Link got to. He knew the little hylian was surprisingly handy in a fight, having to take care of many ice keese, lizalfos, and the occasional wizzrobe living up in the deepest reaches of Hebra. But an Ice talus was another level then that! Honestly, the short hylian didn’t look like he could handle it.

“WELL-” Revali struggled to find the words, before a burning question crossed his mind “Why did you even get near it in the first place? Ice talus are incredibly dangerous unless you’re a skilled archer” He said.

Link soaked up his words for a second, before a look crossed his face. It was one Revali hadn’t seen before. Like the slightest bit of mirth Link had when listening to Revali’s stories, but more… dangerous. The glint in his eye spoke of insanity, and he almost seemed… giddy.  
‘I know, they’re my favorite! Plus I get ore’ Link said, his hands moved much faster. He was… excited?

Suddenly, this little hylian was so much more interesting.

“You… kill talus for fun?” Revali questioned. 

Link nodded eagerly, his hands flew swiftly and smoothly into a speech much longer than he’d ever given before. ‘Every blood moon I take a trip around to kill them all. There’s one right on the edge of tabantha and hebra that absolutely hates me, and I hate them too. I’ve named them Goldiena because there’s a gold deposit on their back but it’s extremely hard to reach’ He explained ‘The one I just killed was easy, but that one is always so pissed off. I’ve been hit by them more times then I can count’.

Revali watched as Link kept going ‘Though I think the easiest one is the one that’s in the middle of a crater southwest of where rito village is, strangely enough they’re pretty easy to kill. I’ve been calling them Asteroid, because they’re a rock and they live in a crater’. Link smiled at his own little cleaver game. Revali was captivated, he would have never guessed this boy to be one to hold his own against a talus, let alone seek them out and fight them enough to name them.

‘Down the path from Asteroid is Topaz, they threw me off the cliff once when I was on their back. Lumine lives on a cliff next to the canyon on the other side of tabantha snowfield’ Link explained. His grin was practically glittering, even in the blurry snow-filled air. His personality was finally starting to shine through, and apparently he was a maniac.  
Link suddenly pointed to the pile of loose ore behind Revali, ‘That one’s Silver’ He proudly stated. 

As he eyed the opal and sapphire on the ground, Revali was speechless, he felt like he should say something about how stupid it was to name monsters, but something about this made him… interested. Another piece in the puzzle, something to work off of.

‘I love the adrenaline rush, and the feeling of taking something down that's so much bigger than me’ Link gushed ‘It’s like riding a bull, but more intense’. Well, Revali couldn’t blame him for that. He himself could never deny the satisfying feeling of watching monsters fall to well-placed arrows.

It made sense why Link had so many gear mounts in his house all of a sudden. It never occurred to Revali they served a purpose besides decoration. He tried racking his brain, attempting to think of times he’d seen the gear being switched out, but quickly focused on what was in front of him.

This… little scrawny excuse of a monster hunter looked like he would have trouble fighting a chuchu, yet was instead full of surprises. Revali couldn’t help it, curiosity had him.  
“I don’t suppose you’d been up for fighting another frost talus sometime?” Revali asked, “There’s one above the flight range that keeps bothering me” he mentioned offhandedly, throwing the bait out for Link to take.

Link stared at him for a second, before the maniac grin came back, and Revali saw it, the glimmer of personality that was another piece in the puzzle. His curiosity came back full force, he wanted to watch Link fight a frost talus- properly this time.

‘Sure’ Link signed. Revali almost felt satisfied that his interest hadn’t turned out to be some weird reclusive hobgoblin after all.

At least, until Link asked him if Flurry or Snowblast was a better name for a frost talus, then he decided Link was an idiot no matter how well he swung a weapon. 

(Still, Revali got his sapphires)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off my favorite pastime in Botw :D


	3. Shiny

Link was an oddball.

While it wasn’t easy to tell a first, occasionally some people would witness him do some strange things without explanation. Usually they were just strangers who wrote him off as crazy, reckless, or crazy reckless as Revali would say.

Link felt comfortable enough to call Revali a friend at this point, he at least felt comfortable enough to explain his strange behaviors to the rito when they happened. Revali understood his dislike of society, and after the talus incident didn’t seem bothered in the slightest by the fact Link named and fought talus on a daily basis. Well, besides some rude comments, but that was just Revali being Revali. 

The first time Revali was around to witness this particular one happened a few visits after the talus incident. The rito was happily updating Link on everything currently on his mind after spotting Link leaving his house, (he couldn’t quite remember what for anymore, but it was nice to take a walk anyway). He lived in one of the only areas that had greenery (well, stickary really) in Hebra.

“-I swear, what does the elder expect? Just because Saiki and Teba happened to get in a relationship doesn’t mean I’m going to be sweeping anyone off their tail feathers anytime soon. Just because Harth is a skilled blacksmith and made my bow doesn’t mean it’s some sort of hidden courting gesture. Honestly how dare he even suggest it? Me? I mean, not that I don’t have a flock of suitors at my door-” Revali blathered on, Link listening diligently as he always did.

Suddenly Link caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye, Revali continued talking on. “-But I’m not going to lock down just because of a pretty bow or some petty praise! I’m much more refined than that, thank you very much! I’ll only accept someone as talented as I am, maybe second best after me. After all, greatness deserves equally great company” Revali paused, “Is that right link?” he asked.

Revali seemed to stop in his tracks a bit, just noticing the Hylian was trekking away from him, not paying attention anymore. “Wh-Where are you going? Were you not listening to me?” He questioned, frustration eminent in his voice.

As Link peered off the edge of the mountain slope they were on, he heard Revali cluck his tongue angrily. “Honestly are you that airheaded? Maybe the thin air is finally getting to your head”. 

Link pitched forward suddenly, rocketing forward to jump off the edge of the mountain. (Revali did not squawk, he didn’t).

Link landed on his shield experly, sliding down the steep slope with a couple bumps, but for the most part kept his balance as he fell down towards his goal. He landed hard, but with the prize in sight. 

Revali landed just as Link got the forked spear off his back and jabbed at the exposed ore until chunks of them broke off and fell to the ground. “What was so important-” Revali cut himself off as he saw Link. He watched with unamusement as Link snatched them up so quickly and so greedily that it was as if they were diamonds. But no, it was just some amber, rock salt, a few opal, and a ruby.

“Were you even listening?!” Revali demanded yet again, annoyance ramped up to ten.

Link nodded happily, hands still managing to sign while keeping a firm grasp on the goods in his arms. ‘You were complaining about Harth and the Elder right?’ He clarified. 

Revali huffed, “Not complaining if it’s true, Honestly you’re like a crow with how far you’re willing to go for shiny objects”. At the time, it was a forgettable comment, one of many. They made their way back to Link’s house, and Link went to put his newfound treasure away.

And it was only then that Revali learned the true extent of Link’s shiny loving mind. He was not a crow, oh no, he was a literal dragon with a horde.

Revali knew the basics of the jewellery business, it was the richest one out there. Everyone who dealt in jewels exchanged a lot of money back and forth. Diamonds were by far the most valuable thing in all of hyrule, each fist sized hunk easily going for 500 at the least. A person might be lucky to find one maybe once, twice, in their lifetime if they made a good living. They were rare, even among people who made a living in mining and gemstones.

So, understandably, when Link pulled out a chest out from under his bed that was filled nearly to the brim with Sapphire, Topas, and Ruby. But most importantly, diamonds. So many diamonds, all in one place. Revali’s eyes went so wide they felt like they were going to pop out.  
The contents were practically glowing, it looked like proper treasure. Set-for-life kind of money. The kind of riches even the well-off dreamed of, king and queen kind of money. Revali absolutely denied making a strangled noise as Link nonchalantly added the small ruby to the pile.

He knew how valuable those diamonds were, having to go through a lot of hassle to get one for his bow to be created. It was well worth it, but not an experience he’d like to repeat.

“A-are those all Diamonds?” he asked, wanting to check if it was real. Was that a star piece in there? Those went for 300 at least! Link nodded in confirmation. There was no way it was real.

‘Remember when I said I killed a lot of talus?’ Link signed, amused by Revali’s shock. Revali quickly closed his agape jaw, refusing to look anymore like a fool then he had after catching sight of the gleaming treasure horde. Of course, Talus were dangerous, but they were easily made up of some of the most valuable ore around. Killing one would give you good money, but killing so many… it was no wonder.

Suddenly Revali felt like going talus hunting himself. The sapphires he’d gotten from the frost talus before had sold for good, but now it didn’t seem like nearly enough.

“Why?” he found himself asking, “What could you possibly need them all for?” Revali couldn’t possibly imagine what he’d need this much money for. Maybe to buy Hyrule castle itself?

To his utter surprise, shock, and maybe outrage, Link’s reply was a one worded ‘shiny’. As if that justified not only collecting diamonds but just… having them? 

“But-” Revali sputtered “So much money!” He exclaimed, gesturing to the grand wealth on the table.

“Well, I sell the rubies, sapphires, and topaz, but not the diamonds or star fragments, I like having them” Link said simply, as if he wasn’t destroying Revali’s whole world and building it up again “I think I’ve got 26 diamonds now”.

That was so very easily 13,000 rupees, and this MORON was just WASTING it.

“But! WHY- You’d be set for life!” Revali shrieked. 

‘Shiny’ 

For a while, Link was concerned with how Revali just sorta… froze up. He stared long and hard at Link, occasionally twitching. After that he just decided to put the chest away.  
He knew that diamonds sell for about 500 each, but he honestly couldn’t see why he’d need that much more when he already had 52 thousand from selling the gems before he started stockpiling them. After realizing how suspicious it was to have so much money on him, he just started keeping the gems because they were pretty. Truthfully, he liked killing talus so the stones just… accumulated.

Of course, Link wasn’t telling Revali that, he’d probably die of a heart attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based off a true story of me going through a month long talus hunting craze and my friend demanding I sell my 26 diamonds. 
> 
> >:) never, I'm up to 40 nearly 50 now.
> 
> Also, gonna officially be posting every Tuesday and Saturday, so check for updates I guess if you like this shit I write while listening to electro swing and ignoring the concept of sleep.


	4. Voice

It was common knowledge that rito sang. The women were known for it, and as consequence the men got pulled into it as well. God knows how many times Saki had dragged Teba into something because he could sing low notes, the damn rito being too jealous to refuse because he knew she’d just go to Kass.

The warbler’s nest was their public singing place, surrounded by 5 stones that the wind practically whistled through. People would go there to see, and some would gather and listen while they practiced. Which is why Revali avoided it like the plague.

Not that he didn’t like singing, but he didn’t like an audience. He’d honestly be caught dead before someone witnessed him practicing his singing. Revali would rather let people think he had a perfectly tuned voice without practice then be seen and watched at the warbler’s nest. No, whenever the urge struck him to vocalize, he went to another place.

Just past Coldsnap Hollow, and to the right- wedged off the side of Link’s shield surfing course, was a set of heavy stone doors. It’d become a bit of a myth that the stone doors were hiding something, but so far nothing had managed to break down or through them. Revali himself had tried, wasting a good deal of bomb arrows and leaving empty handed some time ago.

However, a little over a few months ago, he’d flown up there out of boredom to discover the doors had been knocked down. The inside was a cave, created by the skeleton of a leviathan that sheltered a shrine identical to the one in the village. He found that the insides of the cave echoed slightly, not annoyingly. A nice big open space with lots of room to project without being heard from the outside. It was perfect, a perfect space for a hidden singing voice. 

His own private theater.

Crystalline ice was his only company as Revali made himself comfortable. He stood in front of the shrine, turning to the open part of the big empty cavern. He took a slow, deep breath, watching his breath fog out. The air was considerably colder here because the walls were pure solid ice. Confident that he was alone, he started to sing.

He started just by reciting the tones he knew, picking up into a low croon. As he got louder, his voice bounced back at him, echoing his breathy slow tune. Eventually he started practicing some higher tones, letting his wings unfurl into a wide motion. Kass was undoubtedly the best singer, but Revali had to be a close second. Once he was done with his warm ups, Revali let his mind wander to a particular song, with words instead of just tones. 

Yes, that one was undoubtedly his favorite one. Not to mention the Shrine was the perfect stage, the lighting for this dark cavern that served as his audience. 

That was the thought in Revali’s head, before he turned and came face to face with someone. He would recount it saying that Link appeared like some sort of phantom, preying on the unsuspecting singer, but there he was, sitting innocently on the edge of the shrine as if he’d been there the entire time.

He would, however, deny shrieking for the rest of his life. 

In surprise, he defaulted to yelling. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Revali demanded in a vocal tone that was less than flattering. 

Link didn’t seem fazed, he brought up his hands to respond ‘I was listening to you sing’, as if he’d been invited. 

“WELL-!” Revali cut himself off to clear his slightly strained throat, regaining his cool “Well, Nobody asked you. Leave. Now.” Revali demanded.

This seemed to trigger something in Link, his face twisted downwards (in a pout?) and he hopped off the platform he was perched on. Just as Revali thought he was going to leave like ordered, he instead signed again. ‘Can I listen to you sing again?’ he asked.

“NO.” Revali said elegantly.

‘Please’ Link asked again, he waited a moment before signing again ‘Pretty please?’, leaving Revali flabbergasted.

“W-well” Revali said, not sure how to react. “I’m sure I can graciously make an exception since you’re begging” he said. “But remember that listening is a privilege, I was already practicing before you got here, meaning that this will never happen again” How on earth did Link even get behind him? He was facing the entrance!

Revali took a few steps forth, up onto the platform, feathers settling. He posed on it, as if it were his own personal pedestal. “If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I’ll stab you” Revali growled out, still flustered and caught off guard. He sent a small glare, though it didn’t seem to have any effect.

‘With your bow?’ Link asked, he immediately put his hands up in surrender as the rito made a threatening step towards him (possibly with that intent).

Revali stepped back, getting himself mentally ready. Link wouldn’t say anything, and even if he did, Nobody would listen to a hermit from the snowdrifts over Revali. His singing was perfect, he was fine.

With a deep, shuddering breath, he began. 

“I…” he started gracefully, “think it’s sweet… that you think of me…” Revali let every line trail off a little. “On nights where it’s cold and lonely…” the tune was slow, soft.

He continued on “right from the start… I held your heart… A fairytale, if only” he waited a second, a small pause before throwing out a wing and lifting his voice some.

“Cause I’ve been married to the moon and the stars! I’ve been kissing the sky…” He let the word drag out. “You say from me you can’t bear to part. But darling I’ve no idea why…” He sang.

“Please~” he let the word drag out, “Run away~” he bellowed. “I don’t want you to stay~ I’m hoping that one of these days~ You’ll find me…” he paused for effect, the last word being sung very, very softly.

“...Unlovable…”

The silence that rang through the air was almost as tense as Revali was. But a grin broke out across Link’s face as his hands rushed. ‘That was amazing! What is the song about?’.

Finally, a question Revali didn’t have to stress over. “Oh, it’s a really old song about an adventurer telling someone they can’t return their feelings because they’re in love with the sky so they’re hoping they fall out of love with them” poetic, in a weird way. Then came an even worse question.

‘Can you sing another?’ Link asked eagerly, he just looked so- earnest.

Revali almost considered it for a second before making his decision swiftly. “No” he said “Never again”. 

Link pouted in response (very mature), ‘pretty please?’ he asked, what was he- a child?

“No! I said I wouldn’t and I won’t!” Revali vehemently denied him. It didn’t matter how much praise Link gave his obviously perfect skills, he wasn’t giving in twice! He was caught off guard the first time, never again! “And now I have to find a new practice spot because you’re here!” where had the hylian even been hiding? He was small, but not invisible. 

‘Please?’ the small hylian pestered. 

Revali huffed, “I’m not repeating myself”.

‘Super pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top?’

“No! That’s final!”

“Please?”

Revali stopped in his tracks from where he was preparing to fly away dramatically. He stopped and stared at the hylian, wondering if what he heard was actually true. “D-did you just speak?”. Link nodded, looking at him with big, hopeful, blue eyes.

Revali sighed.

“WELL!” he started up “Since you’re so transparently fawning so much over my singing, and clearly can’t go the rest of your life without the pleasure of my voice ringing through your head. I’ll make you a deal- be quiet and I’ll let you listen more often” he waited a second before adding “and no telling ANYONE!”.

Link nodded eagerly, watching as Revali transformed back into the arrogant monolouger he knew. “Honestly, this is why I have to practice so far away from society, with everyone flocking to me I’d never be able to get any actual singing done. They obviously have taste, but I don’t need to be told what I already know, especially when it’s interrupting me. I’m only letting you because you’re quiet, AND I expect you to clap, praise where praise is due after all”.

How did this little hylian even manage to do this to Revali? He really should apologize, it was just criminal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The "I'll stab you with my bow" bit idea came from a comic by Yumoirail on tumblr where Revali goes "Touch me and I'll stab you" while pointing three bomb arrows at link. Sry if the song isn't the best ;-; I tried.


	5. Glutton

It took embarrassingly long to notice. Revali prided himself on having sharp eyes, but in this case he couldn’t seem to actually use them. 

Link was, without a doubt, the smallest adult being Revali had ever met. Being teased for being as short as he was didn’t seem so bad compared to Link’s height. The hylian was only about 4 foot 10, which was miniscule in the land of Hyrule. At least Revali was still the same height as most- if not all, hylians. If you didn’t know better, it’d be easy to underestimate Link.

Another notable point about Link, is that he loved food. Revali was actually shocked at the lengths he’d go to get the proper ingredients. When he was presented with a fruitcake made with hearty durian, he was actually a little impressed. It made him wonder if taste was really important in food. 

Eh, he didn’t really care. 

Right, back to his observation. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d unintentionally assumed the Hylian ate in proportion to his height- which was to say, like a mouse. The few times he’d seen Link eat he was too busy either talking or eating his own food to realize that this small twig of a person had a true inner power.

As Link sat down by the fire with his own food, Revali almost did a double take. There was an entire gourmet roast in his hands, and three more piled on the plate next to him. Before Link could even take a bite, Revali was already poking fun. “There’s no way you can eat all that,” he chided “You’d pop”.

Revali had a vague idea of how fast Link ate, but he had no idea that until this point, Link was eating slow just to be respectful.

Instead, Link just quirked an eyebrow, seeming to take it as a challenge. He grinned a wide grin that was usually associated with trouble, before wolfing the entire thing down in 5, terrifying, singular, bites.

It was too fast to even see, Revali blinked and missed it all. One second, the meat was all there, the next it was nothing but a bone. He did a double take watching Link pick up the next one and as soon as it got near his face it just disappeared. 

As the horrifying process repeated twice more in the span of ten seconds, Revali’s only thought was “Where? Where could it all POSSIBLY go?”.

In less than a minute, all four had been completely obliterated before his very eyes. The tiny hylian patted his stomach with a small sigh, before getting up to throw out the bones. Revali wasn’t quite sure what emotions had sparked, but they were mostly a mix of fascination, horror, shock, and awe.

Every time. Every SINGLE time he thinks he’s got this guy figured out, Link threw a curveball. 

The more he started to pay attention to Link’s eating habits, the more he realized that Link ate his own weight and more in food on a daily basis. Revali had made the foolish assumption that the pots of soup Link made served as breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the Hylian. Oh no, to him that was a single serving. 

Before Revali started any interrogations, he had to make sure of something first.

“Teba” he started “How much do hylians eat normally?” he asked before he took off.

Teba stopped, giving Revali a slow, confused, and slightly skeptical look. As if the information would come to stab him in the back. “Uh, same as us I think. Maybe a bit more? Why?” he asked.

Revali offered no answer, simply taking off for Hebra mountains. Leaving Teba even more confused and silently wondering if Revali was finally considering plans of dietary warfare with the travelling couple in town. 

“Alright, I have to know- where does it all go?” Revali finally demanded the day after witnessing the horrifying incident. Link gave him a questioning glance up from where he was mixing something together, possibly another meal he was planning on devouring in one bite. Maybe he would just unhinge his jaw and consume the bowl this time, revealing himself as a dragon in human form. It would explain his hoarding of shiny and valuable objects.

Finally, Link seemed to make the connection by pointing questionably to the mixing bowl in his hands. “Yes the food! Where does it all go? You can’t possibly eat that much, how did you do it? Where did you hide it?” It could’ve been a slight of hand trick.

The only answer he got was a shrug. He almost felt his eye twitch, so many questions and not enough answers. All of the answers he got just lead to more questions. 

Link continued aloofly, mixing in ingredients to turn the cake batter a deep, rich, brown as Revali stewed. Sugar, Wheat, Chocolate- in it all went. Finally, came the last ingredient for the cake, just a tablespoon of a dark violet liquid. Bubbling in the spoon, it was quickly mixed in. 

As the cake slowly baked, Revali finally gave up. He had to concede that there were some things in the world he simply did not know. This hylian- able to eat 7 pounds of meat as a ‘small snack’ being one of them.

Instead he turned his head to an odd smell, there weren't very many things rito could smell, and what little amount existed were quickly identified. Revali turned his heads to the ingredients on the rack. The odor lingered there, stemming from the recently opened violet bottle Link used in the cake. 

He went to the rack, eyebrows quirked. Revali recognized this one, but he couldn’t quite remember what it was. It was curved inwards, with a small gold cork. “Link, where did you get this bottle?” he asked the hylian watching the cake bake behind him.

Link turned his head, signing ‘from a merchant named kilton’.

Well, that didn’t help in the slightest. “Yes, but what is it?” Revali asked again.

‘Monster extract’.

That sounded… extremely familiar. After a minute racking his brain, Revali realized why. Monster extract, Monster essence. He was taught this as a hatchling, and presented a sample to see as example. 

“Link this is poison-!” Revali turned just in time to see Link, with the freshly baked cake shoved halfway into his mouth.

Silence… then pandemonium.

You know, it really shouldn’t surprise Revali that Link was somehow unaffected by poison. He seemed to be immune to everything else too.

(Including common sense).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not going to lie, this chapter is nothing but crack.


	6. Treasure

In terms of anger, Revali figured he pretty much had it down when it came to egging people on. It just felt so good, to know he had their attention, even if it was negative. That they considered something to take seriously, If people didn’t love him, they hated him. 

Link, on the other hand, was the immovable object to Revali’s unstoppable force. Nothing made him mad! He was like stone, almost unflinching and taking everything in stride. It felt like Revali had tried everything, at this point he just considered Link incapable of anger.

Honestly, he seemed kind of a doormat. Revali was partly convinced he lived away from people just so he didn’t feel obligated to help every person with every single little task. On this fateful day, Revali had caught Link- not up in the snowy mountains, but at a stable in Tabantha. He’d spotted the blonde walk among the absurd amount of giant mushroom shaped stalks. 

This lovely summer day, Link still wore the snowquill outfit with his snow boots. But he’d traded his head dress in favor of a purple face mask along with a scarf. His hair was up in a small, folded bun with a sliver of wood through it. Revali wanted to ask, but didn’t.

‘This is where I got the snowquill outfit actually’ Link was explaining, ‘Someone bought one but ended up not going to Hebra, so I got it for cheap’ he said. In Revali’s opinion, Link should’ve felt honored that the rito was bothering to walk with him, but it was actually answering some of his burning questions.

“How have you never been to rito village, but you’ve been here?” Revali asked, purely out of confusion. This place was twice as far as Rito village. 

‘Less people, plus everyone here is a traveler so I don’t attract attention’ link paused ‘Also, I’d be out of place as a hylian’ he pointed out. Revali supposed that was true, after all wasn’t it Revali complaining on a daily basis that there were too many hylians visiting rito during the warm season?

“What even are you here for?” Revali asked.

‘A week ago I met a trader at the snowfield stable, he said if I gave him three diamonds he’d give me a star piece if I met him here today’ the hylian responded.

Revali just FELT his feathers bristle at the sound of that. That phrase could only sound more shady if Link said “he had a long dark coat and I only saw his eyes from under the brim of his wide, black, hat”. 

...he suddenly wondered if Link was more out of touch with the world then he thought. 

Leaning over, Revali whispered “you do realize it’s a rip-off, right? Three diamonds is worth 1.5 thousand, a star fragment is worth 300”. Normally he didn’t care if people got scammed, (Hell he considered the price of the bomb arrows at the store a rip off, so he just made his own) but Link was a nice person, and Revali knew it was only a matter of time before that got taken advantage of.

‘I know, I just like them. I can always get more diamonds, star fragments are really hard to find and get’ Link responded.

Revali would love to be shocked, he really would be. But he all too clearly remembered the locked chest under Link’s bed with 23 more diamonds in it. Link definitely could get more. “Hoarder” was all he muttered, he couldn’t imagine just giving away 1500 worth of rupees for something only 300. This confirmed that Link was not only crazy, but idiotic as well.

The brash rito was contemplating offering to find a star fragment himself if Link was willing to give three diamonds for it when they finally got to the stable. Link scanned the area, spotting the trader. He walked up to the man, a tall, thin, scrawny thing with thick glasses. Revali went with him, silently shadowing, if only to witness what was to happen. There was no way Link was actually going through with this, was he?

To Revali’s dismay, the man wasn’t wearing a dark black trench coat, he instead had brown suspenders over a green shirt with a gigantic backpack on his back. He still looked suspicious, but in a totally different way. There wasn’t any better way to portray crazy if ‘loose screws’ was written on his head.

The man was sat down, muttering to himself as he flitted through a book. He had thin, wispy brown hair on his head. Link walked up to him boldly and tapped him on the shoulder while Revali lingered back, pretending to be an interested onlooker. There weren’t that many people here anyway.

Surprised from the tap, the man flailed, nearly throwing his book in the process. “Oh, it’s just you” the man readjusted his glasses. “You uh, have the diamonds right?” he questioned, trying not to sound too eager, and failing. He was obviously eager to get his thin, grubby, hands on the goods.

Revali almost scoffed, it was common courtesy to exchange things at the same time. Someone would only give their goods first in a shady situation if they were an idiot.

He almost felt the urge to hit something (Link) as the blonde hylian happily handed off all three diamonds without even SEEING the star fragment first. Of course, of course, only an idiot would do that.

When Link inevitably got scammed, Revali would never let him forget it. Ever.

“Yep! All there” the man giggled to himself creepily, he pocketed the diamonds a little too quickly. “You know, I’m glad there are people who know the worth of the finer things in life. Unlike my brother, obsessed with flying…” he trailed off as Link held out his hand expectantly.

“Right, one star piece- here you go” the man said, fishing something out of his pack, He handed it to Link. Revali was relieved, for a second. It became obvious from where he stood that what Link was given was most certainly not a star fragment.

It was (after later further inspection) a hunk of quartz that had been hollowed out into a sphere. There was a light inside. Raising an eyebrow, Link inspected it as the light bounced around. He twisted it upside down to find a small circle carved into the crystal. Link grasped the edges, the piece slid out- a candle following it.

Revali wanted to crow about how it was even more of a scam then he thought, he was right all along. 

As Link glanced up, the man was not-so sneakily trying to walk away without making it look like he was running. Link quickly caught his shoulder, pointing to the hollow quartz accusingly.

“Huh? Yeah, star fragments are round sometimes, so what?” he asked. Link held up the candle, waving it in a way that clearly said ‘do you think I’m an idiot?’ (Revali thought he was).

Link held his hand out, motioning for the guy to give the diamonds back.

The guy straightened his glasses, “Listen, I’ve got the diamonds, you’ve got the star fragment, no take backs” he said, looking a bit smug. The rito was going to shoot that look off his face, that was outright fraud.

To Revali’s surprise, Link’s face twisted into an unamused look, and then into something darker, something so fed up it would’ve been funny if he’d never seen it before. Without a word, Link dropped the pieces of “star fragment”, took the bow off his back (a soldier bow), and drew it back in the guy’s face. The electric arrow’s energy swirled together less than a foot in front of him. This guy had done something Revali had so far failed to do, he’d made Link mad.

The man nearly shit himself.

“WOAH!” he put up two hands to try and defend himself “WAIT WAIT, can’t we work this out?!” he shrieked. His voice cracked in fear.

For a second, Revali thought he was going to actually have to try and talk the Hylian down from murder. Link put the bow away and held his hand out. Shakily, he was given all three diamonds back, he turned smoothly on his heel and walked back to Revali. Leaving the scam artist trembling in fear, with his quartz on the floor.

Revali’s eyes were shining with mirth as Link got back, a smirk cracked on his face. “What did I tell you?” he cackled. 

‘Not now please, I’m angry’ Link signed, he looked upset. There was a dent in his brow, and his mouth was turned down, but it was still a lot compared to his normally passive face.

“Really?” Revali asked, following Link’s march back towards Hebra, “Being called an idiot doesn’t make you mad, but this does?” he asked, trying to figure out Link’s logic.

‘I hate time-wasters’ Link said ‘I’ll go through hours of work, but not if I don’t get anything out of it’ he said ‘and I don’t like people thinking they can take advantage of others’.  
That… was actually understandable, Link seemed like the type who stood for justice instead of glory (it was insufferable the way he did so much for so little).

“So why don’t you like me then?” Revali asked, he just had to know. He thought Link incapable of anger before now. “Don’t I waste your time? I know you certainly waste mine. I could be training you know”.

‘Don’t be absurd’ Link huffed a little ‘I treasure our time together, I like you Revali’.

Revali didn’t fluff up, he didn’t. It was a trick of the light.

“Why? I- well, no reason you wouldn’t, my time is precious, but I’m not exactly known for being a ray of sunshine”, actually he believed he’d been labelled a ‘feathered asshole’ by another hylian last week.

Link huffed a little through his mask, he drew in a deep breath and mumbled “I consider you a friend”, he knew the rito heard him. It was a subtle change in his stance, but Revali seemed to puff up a little with pride. That subtle smirk was back. It was true he was arrogant, but Link found it endearing.

“You know what? Since you’re so dedicated to your praise of me, get on, I’ll save you the flight back”.

Revali still had yet to grow out of his teenage height, as he still had yet to lose his markings being the youngest of his age generation, but he was still tall enough to carry Link on his back. “Be thankful, as you’re really heavy” the rito said, taking off.

Link’s hands signed a quick ‘Thank you’ as the flight saved him a good few hours walking up the mountain in the snow.

“Aren’t I just so nice? It’s your fault for living in the mountains, one of these days you’re going to be buried in the snow going up that mountain. If you ask me, a star fragment isn’t worth the trek up that mountain without wings, much less 3 diamonds. I’m at least glad to know I’m not friends with a pushover”.

Revali wasn’t facing Link, but he could still feel him grin. 

“If” the rito started “I were to get you a star fragment, would you give me those three diamonds? Or maybe another three, I don’t want the three he touched” he mentioned. 

“Sure” came the quiet, whispered reply.

“However, you might have to make it four since I’d be wasting precious sleep for you, maybe even 5 if it takes multiple nights. What would you even do without me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm editing this author note, I made a decision a few days ago to add Thursday to the update schedule but then decided that was too hectic. I wanna keep this story casual and not worry about it every other day. So forget anything I said about Thursday updates, I just might randomly drop an extra chapter every now and again. Hope y'all understand.


	7. Sleep

Link wasn’t actually expecting Revali to go through it. Star fragments were hard to obtain purely because you had to stay up from 10 pm watching for them, and they disappeared unless scooped up as soon as 5 am hit. Not to mention they didn’t fall every night. He couldn’t count the amount of sleepless nights he’d been so close to one only to have it vanish from his very eyes because of the STUPID time constraint.

He figured as a rito, Revali would have more success. At this point he was willing to give up the four diamonds just to have another star fragment, he knew Revali wouldn’t try and trick him, not unless he wanted the diamonds.

Link liked sleeping in late, so he was startled when his door practically flew open at dawn. So startled that he fell right out of bed, nearly scrambling up to get to a sword because there was someone barging into his house. Luckily he looked up to see Revali setting a glowing, star fragment on the table.

“There” Revali said, “Found it”.

Link was still rubbing his eyes as he got up, everything still blurry as if eyes refocused. But the yellow glow he could see on the table in the corner of his eye was undeniable. He, along with his many, many thick blankets were still on the floor. His ears however, were working perfectly enough to hear the rito huff. “You aren’t up yet? It’s nearly 6”.

Ugh, 6 was so early. Link preferred times such as 10, or better yet- noon. He lived alone, he could do what he pleased at the times he wanted. 

“Unbelievable,” Revali said as Link picked himself off the ground. He was still in his sleep clothes, tirely blinking around the room. The rito sat himself down in one of Link’s chairs as the hylian piled his blankets back on the bed and set about his morning routine. 

Link threw a few logs on the dying fire, before walking back to the bed, pulling the chest from underneath it. He drew the armful of loot from the chest and walked over to put it on the table, picking the star fragment up to put it in the chest where the empty space was.

“Can’t you count? This is six” Revali stated. 

Link made his way to the table, signing. ‘Three for payment, one for the cost sleep, one because it took more than one day, one because I’m nice and have too many diamonds’ Link said.

The rito stared at him, now that Link was awake, Revali looked tired. It became apparent that the rito was only up at his house so early because he hadn’t slept. Shadows cast under his eyes and he was giving a blank, sleepy, glare towards Link. “Whatever” he mumbled, putting his head down on the table. 

‘Do you want breakfast?’ Link asked.

“Sure, it’s the least you could do” Revali responded, but there was no bite to his words. Only a sleepy annoyance. 

Hot foods was all Link seemed to eat anymore, not that he was complaining. Of course, he tended to lean more towards soups and meat living where it was coldest. Something not too hard, he was chilled from the dying fire. Cream of mushroom soup would be good, he decided, quick and easy. Something thick and warming to get him to really wake up.

It was mornings like this when he thanked his past self for going all the way to Eldin and Akkala just for sunshrooms. It wasn’t any secret Link loved food, and he was willing to go through a lot just to get the perfect ingredients. Proper food could help you through a lot, he found.  
Link enjoyed sitting in front of the fire as the ingredients bubbled in the pot, frothing together to mix into something absolutely delicious. The warmth of the fire filled the cabin along with the smell of creamy soup. Oh yes, good food was so worth it, more precious than diamond. There certainly was a difference between eating and eating right. 

Steam came out from being trapped under the lid as Link finally peeked at his masterpiece. Clouded, ivory substance with specks of spice floated around alongside sliced mushroom, it looked just as it smelled, which was perfect.

Link let it simmer for a second, making sure it was fully heated (Nothing was more disappointing than half heated food) before getting bowls. Two bowls of cream of mushroom were put on the table. Well, his bowl was technically a mixing bowl, but he was really hungry. 

He hoped the other would like the food, even if he couldn’t taste it- the texture was more than heavenly. Link was more than confident that he’d earned his stripes with a cooking pot and raw materials. A single taste let him know that- while still way too hot, the soup came out great. 

But despite all that, the rito didn’t even move. He’d crossed his arms on the table, resting his head on the nook between them. Both eyes were closed, so maybe Revali just didn’t realize the soup was done. Link leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder.

Nothing, Revali was still as stone. His face was smoothed out into a passive expression, neither mad or happy.

Okay, that was fine, the soup was still too hot so Link would just wait till he was in the mood to eat. He ate slowly for once, only because he had to stop to blow on every bite. By the time Link finished, the other hadn’t so much as twitched. He stared long and hard at the other, he wasn’t even moving, it was as if he’d just-

It suddenly hit Link what had happened, Revali had fallen asleep.

He felt sheepish for taking so long to realize it, but after thinking about it, he decided not to wake him up. (Link did eat his portion though, he could always make more as an apology and he figured the rito wouldn’t want something cold anyways).

\---

It took an embarrassing long time for Revali to wake up. His sleep addled mind was weighed down by the fact that he was warm and comfortable. The second thing he realized was that he was physically being weighed down. It was dark and dry and warm, a perfect place to rest.

Wait, no, this was wrong. 

This wasn’t a hammock, where was he? Didn’t he need to get the star fragment to Link? He’d stayed up 4 nights for it, so it better be appreciated. Revali opened his eyes, but all he saw was darkness, no that was a blanket. He pushed it off his face, getting a breath of pleasantly warm air. 

This was Link’s cabin. Looking around, he noted it was night time from out the window, the fire was roaring, that was the source of the warmth. He was in a bed, being weighed down by a hefty (and warm) quilt. For a second, he tried to rack his brain for what had happened yesterday- er, this morning. He panicked, not being able to find anything. 

A glance at the floor revealed Link sleeping away in his own pile of blankets. Good, so THAT hadn’t happened. He settled down considerably with that revelation out of the way. He stared hard at the conked out Hylian- nothing more than a head of blonde hair popped out of a cocoon of at least 5 heavy blankets. How did he even breathe like that? Revali hoped he suffocated. 

No, not really, but the thought was still nice. 

How did the hylian always manage to catch him like this? So… flustered, out of control, ungraceful, and off guard. There were only so many times he could deny it before he started looking like an idiot. 

No more, he decided, no more of this. He left swiftly, flying even in the frosty night just to get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff, also I stayed up so many nights just to find star pieces. I had one vanish LITERALLY in front of me, as I was close enough to get the button pop up to pick it up. I was so fucking confused when it disappeared.


	8. A Bird in the Mountains pt 1

Harth was noticeably irritated.

At first it could easily be brushed off as a bad day, maybe a bad week. But this bad mood seemed to slowly seep into him, at first he tried not to let it affect anyone else, but eventually he couldn’t control his anger. 

Of course, he still had the right to be mad at the old bird to even SUGGEST something as stupid as settling down. No, never, It was a coincidence that he’d been stubbornly ignoring the happy couple for maybe a few weeks now. 

Teba was with Saki, of course he was. It shouldn’t have come as any sort of surprise to him. There was still that traitorous spark of darkness in his soul that whispered that they wouldn’t last long. They’d break up, they’d grow tired of each other, they’d have a fight and blow up and everything remotely cute about the couple would go down in a fiery mess that would never be mentioned again.

He was always thinking up ways to reassure Teba in his mind, they were better off as friends, some relationships just didn’t work out, that everything would be put behind them. 

But of course, some people just had their relationships go smoothly. Every love story had it’s rough patches, but not this one, this one just went PERFECTLY. Everyone else’s love stories went perfect.

Except for Harth’s.

His stupid, cruel hopes had crumbled when Teba and Saki had moved in together. Crumbled, but not completely diminished. He still hoped their relationship would fall apart somehow, maybe they’d get tired of each other. 

Harth felt shame sometimes, for thinking like this. But he couldn’t help himself, he still felt like he should hate them for being in love. 

“I’m leaving for a while” Revali told him, just waltzing into his roost with that information because he had to personally let everyone know, didn’t he?

Harth paused for a second, “And what?” he asked.

Revali huffed, “Just don’t panic when I’m gone, you’re the only one up so be sure to tell the elder I’m gone”.

Harth wanted to snap back that he wasn’t his personal messenger bird, but Revali walked off before he could. He swore he never knew what that insane magpie was going to do next. Revali was the youngest of their generation of kin, and seemed to think he was the best too. (It might’ve been true, but none of them liked to admit that).

The rito didn’t care, he passed the message along and was done with it. Nowadays, it seemed like all of his days were spent keeping himself busy, making bows, practicing his craft, honing it into a fine art. Practicing at the flight range occasionally, (only when Teba wasn’t there).

Harth was a ticking time bomb, which was unfortunately set off at the worst time.

“Where are you going?”

The black rito looked over his shoulder, it was late, the stars were high up in the sky along with the moon. He couldn’t sleep, and if he worked on his bow anymore he’d end up taking it apart just to rebuild it. It was time to test it at the flight range, (now that Teba was on a leash, he wasn’t there after dark). It seemed there was another rito who couldn’t sleep this starry night.

“Out” was all he told Molli. 

“Why?” she responded, the little pink rito was too curious for her own good. 

“Because I can’t sleep,” he said, intending to end the conversation there. As he stepped out into the balcony, he heard the tip tap of two little feet landing on the ground from out of her hammock. Harth sighed, “No Molli, you can’t come” he said.

“But I can’t sleep either,” she said simply. Molli was the youngest of the rito, being a grand age of 5. 

Harth really didn’t want to deal with the fight of getting Molli to sleep again tonight. He’d already gone through it a fews hours ago, but clearly she only took a short nap instead. “Then find something to do until you can!” he said a little sharply.

Seeing Molli’s downcast face made him regret the sharp comment. He sighed, taking a break of slightly chilled air, the warm updrafts around the village kept the place nice and warm during the day, maybe a little colder at night. Harth turned swiftly, getting on one knee to level with her, he put his hands on Molli’s shoulders, and said “Look, I’m giving you permission to stay up just this once as long as you’re quiet and don’t bother anyone okay?” he asked.

Molli nodded eagerly, “Okay!” she chirped.

“Great” he sighed in relief, maybe it was irresponsible of him, but at most she’d probably just go back to staring at that giant tree in the distance from the stories his father had told.

“I’ll practice telling grandpa’s story!” she whispered excitedly as he stood back up. 

“Okay Molli” he said, satisfied, “you do that”. Harth made his way over to the landing, taking off into the night. Leaving little Molli to do what she pleased as everyone else slept away. 

Of course, there was really one thing that burned at the back of her mind constantly. A bedtime story her grandpa had told her before he died. She quietly made her way through the steps of the village, to a small hanging edge which was the person size for one person to sit at.

She’d normally never be allowed up this late, but tonight was truly something beautiful. The moon was high in the sky, bathing everything in it’s white shine and giving it a golden glow. As she stared off into the distance looking at the big tree up on the mountain top, Molli quietly recited the words she knew by heart and told to every single person she’d ever known and met.

“Once upon a time” Molli quietly told the moon, “My grandpa stopped at a big tree while he was climbing a big mountain and looked below him to the northwest” She only knew which direction northwest even was because of the story, up to the left.

“When suddenly” she recalled “he saw a huge snow-white birdie with its wings spread wide!” Molli stood up as she said this part, spreading her tiny wings wide as if to match the Birdie.  
“My grandpa took off flying after the snow-white birdie, and as he got a little closer to the white birdie, Grandpa saw something SUPER important inside its belly” There it was, the climax of the amazing story, she raised her voice a little (but not too much). “The birdie had swallowed-”

But she didn’t know. She’d always fallen asleep at that point and couldn’t recall. Such an amazing story, and yet- she didn’t know it’s end. 

Once she’d convinced her dad to go up to the tree, but he hadn’t seen any white birds up there, much less one that big. He said that grandpa had made it up and there was no bird bigger than a rito. But it had to be true, she just knew there was something up there! 

The light of the moon bounced off the snowy peaks, making the tree’s black silhouette look like a beacon in the night. As long as she was quiet, she could do whatever she wanted, right?

It didn’t seem that far away, on a summer night so warm, so beautiful, and so clear.  
\---  
Night was dangerous for most, but not for Link. It wasn’t the night itself that was dangerous, the temperature itself could be lethal without the warmth of the sun to heat the air, but he’d gotten used to that. 

Of course he just had to stay out tonight. Getting down the mountain took less than half an hour if you were a good shield surfer (which he was). However getting back up it was a completely different story. He needed more ice keese wings which was why he was up this time at night. He’d given up on sleep at this time in the night. 

Oh who was he kidding? He couldn’t sleep because there was something pressing on his mind. Link didn’t want to lay there with his thoughts wandering. Normally it felt like he could drop dead asleep in the middle of a snowstorm and still sleep perfectly for 12 hours, but now he couldn’t seem to even close his eyes without his thoughts rushing. 

Revali hadn’t been visiting. 

It’d only been a week, but before that the rito had visited nearly every three days. He knew the rito had a life elsewhere and couldn’t visit him all the time, but…

Link gazed off into the distance, towards the tall spiral of rock that had a wooden spiral of houses winding around it. It was only half an hour if shield surfing…

He shook himself out of it, keese first. Not to mention it was the middle of the night, past midnight if he was correctly. He’d at least need to wait until morning. 

No, Revali was his own person. Link could wait until he was back instead of clamoring at his door first thing in the morning like some sort of desperate-

What was that noise?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Molli's not the only one who can't sleep haha. Here I am, at 12:50 am.


	9. A Bird in the Mountains pt 2

Link was still fairly close to the bottom of the mountain. The snow had been picking up in the last hour into a bit of a flurry. What had been a nice starry night about an hour or two ago had turned into a foggy flurry of snow so thick it was hard to see 10 feet in front of you. Hebra was funny like that, loved snowing at the worst time.

His trek for Ice Keese had taken him to the long icy river named Hebra falls. He wasn’t a stranger to the cackling and crowing of monsters late at night- expected it even. He knew where all the monster camps were and how to avoid them. Clacking and shifting ground would always make him aware of skeletal beings emerging from the ground, and the screeching of Ice keese (usually from behind) kept his ears alert. 

However this was a different sound, it was muffled by the snow, but it almost sounded like… screaming?

His heart dropped, someone was here, in Hebra, in the middle of the night, when monsters were roaming everywhere. IN. A. SNOWSTORM.

Link didn’t care how stupid people where to get themselves in a situation, if he was there, he’d do what he could to pull them out of it. He set off towards the sound, it growing louder and louder until he caught sight of the source.

He caught sight of something short and pink, standing out among the white of the snow. Someone small… a child maybe? They were being chased by three glowing, sparkling, and growling ice keese. They swooped hungrily at the terrified little girl, who was the source of the screaming. 

In one swift move, he was running towards them. His aim wasn’t the best with a bow, but it was more than capable then taking out two of the keese. The third however, hissed and turned to dive at him instead. 

It met the slice of his blade in one smooth motion. 

Once the rush drained from him, his first instinct was to check if she was alright. The child was standing there, hiccuping from what was probably terror. She was covering her eyes with her hands.

No, wings, Link realized. He’d just saved a rito child, what he’d previously thought to be a dress were actually feathers. She was lucky she stood out against the snow with her bright pink coloring as Link followed and found her easily.

When she heard the steps of someone approaching, the little rito uncovered one eye to stare at Link, distraught. Link had a soft spot for kids, he was a sucker for them. He knelt down slowly and signed ‘Are you lost?’.

She stared at him blankly.

Right, Link had to remind himself, not everyone knew sign. But luckily he had an easier time calling on his voice when it came to kids. “Lost?” he asked, making an effort to make his voice heard in the flurry around them.

The little rito nodded, Link held out his hand “I can take you back” he offered. Well, it wasn’t really a choice, he absolutely had to take her back- or at least somewhere that isn’t completely snow and monster filled. Rito could tolerate the snow pretty well, at least adults could, he had no idea when it came to children.

Sniffling a little, she took his hand. Carefully, Link heafted her into one arm. Rito wasn’t too far, only about an hour’s trek.

He started walking, leaving the child to cling to him and try to recover. She seemed to be better now that she wasn’t alone. A few minutes passed in silence as Link did his best to move quickly across the snowy field. They came to a drop, Link had to turn to her, “can you hold on?” he asked. She nodded, eyes still sad. 

As Link slowly made his way down, trying not to focus on the distress of the little girl clinging to his neck, she started talking. Whispering to herself in a quiet tone Link could barely hear. “Once upon a time…” she started “my grandpa stopped at a big tree while he was climbing a big mountain, and looked below him to the northwest” she said.

They made it down the drop, he continued on jogging, putting his arm back around her as she kept muttering. “When suddenly, he saw a huge snow-white birdie with its wings spread wide” she said.

Link listened intently as they made their way through the snow, avoiding the monster camp silently and going down the second drop. “My grandpa took off flying after the snow-white birdie, and as he got a little closer to the white birdie, Grandpa saw something super important inside its belly. The birdie had swallowed…” she trailed off, suddenly saddened by the story, only wishing to go home.

She didn’t know how the story ended. 

But fortunately for her, Link did. “A shrine” he finished. 

Molli looked up at this stranger, mystified for a second. “Huh?” she asked, confused by his response.

Link smiled to himself as they made their way down the path, he slowed down some to talk. “If you go to that giant tree and look northwest, the white of the nearby mountain alongside the Biron snowshelf mix to form a bird. If you go between the tail and the wing of the bird, you find a small chink in the cliff that houses a shrine. The Mozo Shenno shrine” he finished.

“You’ve… been there?” she whispered questioningly.

For a minute, Link thought he’d ruined the story for her, she just stared up at him, before she broke into a grin. “Oh Grandpa!” she laughed “I knew the story had to be true”. She felt so happy, knowing how the story ended and finally being able to relay it all.

Link relaxed a bit, continuing to walk at a leisurely pace as the moon slowly made it’s descent into the later hours of the night. “I’m Molli” the little rito introduced herself.

“Link” he introduced himself.  
\---  
Harth knew he’d made a mistake when he got back and Molli was gone. Taking his anger out on targets until dawn exhausted him, and cleared his mind enough to feel ashamed about letting his kid stay up because he was too fed up to deal with them. Of course, when he’d seen his empty nest, he’d figured that she’d probably fallen asleep somewhere else. 

But now it had been an hour. He’d searched the village from top to bottom, no pink feathers anywhere. 

He was panicking, not only was he irresponsible enough to have a kid as soon as he was barely old enough, but now he’d failed to take care of them and she was MISSING and it was all his FAULT and he’d lost the last person in his life.

Harth felt like he was about to be at his shattering point, this was it, he was officially the worst, most careless, terrible, parent ever. He’d vowed to take care of Molli and what had happened? She was gone, since he’d let her stay up in the village by herself, with no supervision in the middle of the NIGHT.

Worse, what if she went wandering off and was eaten by monsters?

He was panicking, on the verge of a full blown attack at dawn when people finally started getting up for the day, when Molli suddenly came racing up to him, hugging him tightly around the middle just as he was preparing to start looking around Rito stable.

Oh and if it wasn’t such a big relief on his heart, she was fine, she was safe. “Molli! Oh thank Hylia” he had several seconds of hugging her, just letting sweet relief wash over him.

“I know what the birdie swallowed!” she exclaimed, muffled into his shoulder.

“W-what?” he asked, caught off guard from her weird answer. 

“A shrine! The birdie in the mountains swallowed a shrine!” she said. 

Harth stared at her for several long seconds, brain going through all five stages of grief before finally settling on mad parent mode. “Molli, you didn’t leave the village did you?” he asked, trying not to let his voice shake. 

“You said I could do anything as long as I’m quiet!” she protested, huffing.

“NOT-” he cut himself off, lowering his voice “Not when it comes to rule breaking” Harth said. 

“But-” she protested “The nice man told me the end of the story” she gestured back to the bridge, but there was only empty air there. Link having already made his way back to Rito stable and on his way back up to his house. Not today, he decided, another day he would come back.

Harth gave his daughter a look, before sighing. They both broke rules tonight, Harth breaking the rules of parenthood. “Please, never do that again. You have no idea how much you scared me” he said. 

He was so glad to have Molli back that for a while, his heart didn’t hurt anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKay, here’s where I’d normally post a witty one liner or some sassy comment but I wanted to say two things. One: This is going to dip some into the plot of age of calamity (If I find it doable, otherwise I’ll just make up my own plot), but that’s not gonna pop up until after christmas and possibly the new year, I'll let you know what I decide after it comes out. Two, should I write an extra long oneshot for Halloween? Lemme know because if I do it’s gonna be like 6 to 10 pages and probably rhyme.


	10. Solitary

Revali aspired to be the best, nothing less. He’d go down in history, and wouldn’t dare go down before he made his mark on the world.

He wanted people to hear the name and know the legend, which is why he couldn’t let himself become distracted. So the obvious solution was to move away from the distraction, it was taking up his time. Time he couldn’t- wouldn’t, waste.

Every goal he hit was another one to set, he maybe the best of the rito but that was no reason to slow down. His name would reach every corner of the land. 

Revali had his eyes set on his next target. A black hinox, slumbering away in the back wall of Hebra, just before the giant trench that made up one of the borders of Hyrule. A difficult foe for anyone else maybe, but not him.

No, he’d make swift work of this.

Revali whistled loudly from where he was perched on a treetop, he wanted the beast to see him, he wanted it to have a fighting chance before it was brought down by his aim. The only way he’d hone his skills was with a challenge after all.

Expectedly, the Black hinox’s single, yellow eye flew wide open, and it immediately started searching for what would be its next meal. While Revali stared down his next target, waiting diligently for it to get up and spot him. Eagerly, the giant monster took a swipe, but the rito was quicker than that. With a single, swift motion, he was off in the air.

He didn’t have to think anymore, the motions of finding his target, aiming, and shooting were so ingrained that it was pure instinct at this point. Revali dropped in mid air, only for a second. The single second it took to aim and shoot, it was as if time slowed down as he drew back his bow.

Bullseye. All three hit their mark.

The Hinox screeched an unholy scream. Bomb arrows were most effective no matter what bow used, meaning that combined with his- the monster quickly slumped down, turning darker and darker until it was pure black. The thing fell silent, exploding into a cloud of dark purple that quickly disappeared.

Revali landed, eyeing the disgusting remains that dropped from the cloud. The only thing there of any worth were the weapons it dropped. Of course, he wouldn’t touch those smelly remains with a ten foot pole. 

Perfect shot, only three arrows because he hadn’t found a way to do it with only two yet, but he would do it until he could do it with one. He toyed with the thought, ‘Revali: able to bring the strongest of monsters down with a single arrow!’. Black hinox were arguably the most difficult foe of the monsters out there, they certainly were the hardest to bring down.

But still, it wasn’t enough.

A difficult foe yes, but not undefeatable. Revali was not the first to bring down a black hinox, and he wouldn’t be the last. It was something anyone could do with the right training. It was impressive, but not impressive enough. He needed something more, a true feat only he could accomplish. Revali dreamed of it, of being a tide turner. That, in the heat of battle just when all was lost, he would appear and the battle would be won. Some great beast to slay, proving him the best of the best.

But what could possibly suffice? 

Well, certainly not this hinox, he grumbled. There was a silver lynel somewhere around here, he knew. Revali had heard rumors of a gold one as well, maybe that could be his legend. It was a start at least.

Gold… a while ago he hadn’t thought anything of the color. Now it was starting to remind him of something… of someone…

He shook himself out of it, so many miles away and still the distraction lingered. No, he was a solitary warrior. A single unit all by himself. The rising star from humble beginnings that would accomplish feats of unparalleled grandeur without any help from anyone.

From nobody, nothing but hard work and determination alone.

Revali had to be faster, stronger. Those visits were him slacking off, he wouldn’t be doing any more of that. 

With that thought in mind, he went back to doing what he’d done almost every day for the last week or so. A very simple speed exercise, from one point to another in a short amount of time. Every second shaved off his time was another goal met, and another goal set. He wouldn’t be satisfied until he was as fast as the arrows he shot.

He landed on the peak that had served as his starting point. His eyes were set on the other peak, only a short flight away. Perfect for racing back and forth. One knee on the ground, both wings just barely touching the snow. In his mind, he counted down. 

Then, he was off.

1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. His shoulders hurt from the abuse, but it was building strength. Revali was careful to move swiftly, aerodynamically. 8, 9, 10, 11, he counted to himself.

He had to push himself. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20-

Revali nearly crashed pushing himself into the other snow drift. His mind was filled with anger towards himself, 21. He shouldn’t have stopped to fight that Hinox, he’d gotten slower.

“Come on Revali!” he chastised, scraping himself off the snow to line up again. He was fastest diving, so as long as he got himself quickly into the air, the flight should have been easy. His wings screamed at him to take a break, to stop the abuse, but he couldn’t. He’d gotten slower, he couldn’t be satisfied with that.

He pushed himself into the air, 1-

Immediately, something was wrong. A great gust of wind bellowed from beneath his feet, rocketing him into the air much higher than he was expecting. He flailed, being thrown and tossed backwards in the wind. The wind swirled him around as if he were in a tornado, before it practically threw him off the peak, back down where the Hinox had been sleeping. It was all just a blur of white and grey before he finally hit the ground before sliding to a stop, nearly buried in the freshly fallen snow. 

A minute passed before his brain stopped spinning enough to work.

It took a moment for him to get the air back in his lungs because what had just happened? The wind had shot him into the air with such speed he couldn’t tell which way was up or down. Everything was protesting at him moving, but he got himself up. His chest felt warm, like there was something inside of him pulsing with power.

As he looked at his hands, a slow thought crept upon him.

Was that… me? Revali wondered.

There was confusion, disbelief, and then- determination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, fast updating huh? Only been tuesday for 10 minutes, (at least to me). Yes, I'm working on the halloween chapter, it'll be up on (you guessed it) halloween. But I'm also considering writing a short sidlink fic since I've gotten almost every chapter for the next month written out. Either way, I'll decide once everything's fine tuned.


	11. A Love Like That

Link found children to be a delight.

Children were simple. No (harsh) judgement, no underlying intentions, no pressing problems besides “I need five frogs”. It’s true they weren’t always easy, but for the most part they were straightforward.

Molli’s father, Harth, seemed apprehensive when Link came back to take Molli up on her offer to tell the full story. (Link already knew it, but he figured he should listen to it in it’s full grandeur). But he seemed to soften up a bit as Molli finished telling her story, he at least stopped staring to focus on the bow in his lap. 

“My grandpa took off flying after the snow-white birdie, and as he got a little closer to the white birdie, Grandpa saw something SUPER important inside its belly” She recounted Link was sure to lean forward on the edge of his seat. “The birdie had swallowed…” she paused for dramatic effect.

“A shrine!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. Link (fake) gasped, smiling at her infectious enthusiasm.

Molli happily bowed for her audience of one as Link clapped. It really warmed his heart seeing her glowing. It made him remember why he liked helping people, being an anonymous act of kindness for people made him happy. A reminder that something meaningless to him was the world to someone. 

The little rito quickly fell asleep after that, taking an afternoon nap. Her father chuckled a bit, touched by his daughter’s joy. “She’s been retelling that story to everyone allllllllll day” he said “Talking so much must have taken up all her energy”, Harth looked at Link with sharp but warm eyes.

Harth then leaned forward, seeming to look into Link’s soul. “Were you telling the truth?” he asked. 

Link nodded, ‘Biron snowshelf and part of the mountain form the shape of a bird. The shrine is only visible from a certain angle’ he signed. He liked having an entire village of people that understood sign, it cut down his use of charades a lot.

“Okay, I believe you” Harth settled down again. He opened one eye “Thank you, that story means a lot to Molli. Before he died, my father was practically raising her too”.

Link felt there was a story there, but decided not to pry. He settled for a good stern nod.

Harth got up suddenly, “Can you watch Molli for a bit? I need to go get some things and I don’t trust her not to wake up early. She has a bad habit of not staying asleep”. Molli was a quiet one thankfully, but she still woke up and wandered around. Harth wasn’t really willing to let her go unsupervised after she ended up all the way near the icy river of Hebra falls. 

Never again.

Link gave him a thumbs up, when Harth was gone he pulled out the Sheikah slate. The glowing blue points stared back at him. A shrine, one of many, but not them all. He’d scoured many cliffs, caves, and covered places to find them. Yet he hadn’t found them all. 120 was a clear number in his brain, but he’d yet to reach it.

There was shuffling above him, Link looked up to meet a wide eye of a very not asleep rito child. Smiling a little, Link put a finger to his lips. 

“I remembered something” the child whispered, “You shared a secret with me, I’ll share a secret with you, okay?” she said. 

Link looked at the doorway where Harth had vanished, should he go and get him back? “As long as you promise to go back to sleep, okay?” he said.

Molli nodded, “deal”. The little pink bird wiggled her way out of her equally sized hammock, next to her Dad’s larger one. Two small feet hit the floor to patter up to him. 

He waited pensively for Molli to tell him this supposed secret, but she just stared at him. Finally she took a deep inhale. Yet all the air drained out of her like a popped octo-balloon. “I don’t have any secrets,” she pouted. 

Link bit his lip to keep from laughing, it was so cute to see a child pouting about not having any mysterious secrets. This was why Link liked children, they were adorably transparent (at least to him).

Molli suddenly perked up, feathers raising with excitement. “But my dad does! You gotta promise to keep it and not tell ANYONE!” seeing how she was projecting, he doubted it would stay a secret. 

The blonde nodded, holding out his littlest finger to her. She eagerly took it, shaking on it. “Now, the secret is…”.

She was certainly an avid storyteller, Molli was very good at dramatic pauses. Link was expecting it to be something silly, that wasn’t actually a secret but she was told it was. Or maybe it was a make believe story to get her to do something like go to sleep on time. Worst case scenario she’d accidentally stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to learn about yet and the secret was actually a lie to cover it up until she was older. Whatever it was, he wasn’t expecting this.

“Harth likes Uncle Teba”.

What? 

“What?” Teba echoed from the doorway. 

“WHAT?!” Harth repeated from right next to him.

Link hadn’t ever actually seen a rito fully embarrassed. He’d snuck up on Revali accidently when he was practicing singing and that was the most he’d actually seen him flustered. From that incident he’d learned that rito had a tendency to fluff up when embarrassed. What Harth was doing was like that, but much much more floofy.

No wonder Molli wasn’t affected much by the snowstorm, that was a LOT of feathers. 

“You’re what.” Teba repeated, completely monotonic in voice but his face painted in surprise. It was the same reaction a dad might have to his daughter telling him she was pregnant.

Link’s hands itched for the slate, but he felt like it’d only add to the situation if he suddenly disappeared in a burst of blue strands. For a second, everyone only stared at each other and then-

“MOLLI WHY WOULD YOU-” Harth lowered his voice, turning to Teba while trying to flatten his horrible fluffed up feathers “Teba she doesn’t mean that, kids say whatever they want, they’re- erm, ah, imaginative” he growled the last word a little. 

Molli looked sad, “are you mad at me?” she chirped sadly. She already looked too guilty to be held accountable.

“I uh, um…” Harth was darting frantically between looking at Link, Teba, and Molli, trying to figure out which one to address. Teba to deny everything, Link to politely tell him to leave, and Molli to scold and possibly explain why that was bad. “Well, see-”

Two large white hands sat themselves on Harth’s shoulders. “Harth?” Teba spoke calmly, but there was a small waver to his voice. 

“She’s a kid, she-”

“LET’S JUST-” Teba cleared his voice “Let’s just, go… talk”.

Link watched with wide surprised eyes as the two left, going up to Teba and Saki’s roost. He noted that Teba also seemed reasonably fluffed up as well. “Am I in trouble?” Molli asked meekly. He was quick to pull her into a hug. 

The rest of the night was mostly quiet, Molli went back to bed after Link explained the best he could that maybe don’t share other people’s secrets. 

He wondered to himself, watching the three figures talk in the roost up the stairs, if he could ever find himself a love like that.

\---

“It’s insufferable,” Revali told Link weeks later, “Now I have not two lovebirds to deal with- but THREE. And worse, that old owl has started joking that I better lock down quickly or there won’t be anyone left. I think he’s going senile”.

Behind his cup of tea, Link grinned, happy it all worked out for the better. 

(Harth was reasonably embarrassed that now Molli has a new story to tell about how she acquired three parents. Teba was sure he choked when her friend Kheel walked up and asked if she could have more parents too).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I screwed up the chapter ordering, so you get an extra chapter this week. I mean, unless you WANT the halloween chapter to be posted on september 3rd. So here, enjoy.


	12. Roost

Finally, rito was back into view. 

It’d been a long two weeks, but most certainly a productive one. Revali was more than satisfied with the results given. His archery was impeccable, yes, but now he had a new skill to hone. One that no one else but him had ever mastered before. 

Well… he hadn’t exactly mastered it yet. The vicious updraft thrust him miles high in mere seconds, and then would swirl him around until he was thrown back to the ground. But the fact he could summon the wind to his will was already more than anyone had ever done.

He would master it. 

Revali, tamer of winds, wielder of tornados, he mused. No, Master Revali, controller of the skies. 

“Where have you been?” Teba asked as he landed, not really demanding, but just mildly curious- kind of disinterested really. He might as well have been asking why Revali wasn’t dead if he was gone so long. 

“Training” Revali responded, brushing past him easily.

Teba accepted that as an answer, he didn’t bother attempting to talk to Revali any further. The blue rito made his way up, making his home at the tallest point in rito. This was perfect, just what he needed. A new art to practice and shape, instead of just practicing the same things over and over- making minute progress at best. Something to get his head back in the game. No frustration, no repetitive days, and best of all- no distractions. 

He was going to confidently saunter his way, maybe mention some ‘secret training’, but as he passed the Elder, he almost did a double-take. For a wild second Revali wondered if he’d been so distracted that he’d started hallucinating instead of just thinking.

“He was always so stubborn, insisted that he was fine” the elder blathered, “But of course, it turned out to be a broken wing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a madder child, he scowled at me as if I was the reason he tried to jump from the landing” Kaneli chortled, sharing the same amusement as Link. He sat in front of the Elder, legs folded, listening to the story interested.

Revali recognized the story and felt his eyes narrow. (He would’ve fluffed up with embarrassment but it wasn’t very dignent). 

“Oh, Revali! Speak of the devil” Kaneli said, Link turned his head, meeting Revali’s eyes with a small quirk of his lips. 

“Shouldn’t you be senile by now?” Revali growled, he absolutely hated that story. As soon as Teba was old enough to fly, Revali insisted he was old enough and tried to prove the adults wrong by jumping off the biggest landing. (It didn’t end well, he had to wear that stupid cast for a month).

“I’m afraid I have a few years left,” the elder replied easily.

Revali gestured angrily to Link “And what is he doing here?” he turned to Link just to say “The warm season’s ended, scram”.

‘It’s barely autumn’ Link signed confused. 

“Exactly, go back up where it’s cold” Revali said. I’m already too distracted with you up in the mountains, don’t start showing up here too, he thought to himself.

Link did nothing but give him an even more confused look. Kaneli just grinned “Revali, you never introduced me to your friend here, Link was it?” Link nodded, confirming Kaneli’s question.

“We’re not friends” Revali answered flatly. Nope, never, why would he even bother talking to a hylian?

Revali felt like Link was deaf as well as mute seeing how easily the hylian asked ‘Where did you go? I haven’t seen you since you-’.

“I’m tired!” Revali said, closing his eyes and turning his head back to the outside of the doorway “and I’d like to be left alone. Don’t bother me” he stated. He marched out of the roost, content with having his dramatic exit shut down whatever evil plan Link was plotting.

Revali felt his eye twitch as he heard footsteps following him up the stairs. “Are you deaf?” he asked, not looking at Link “I said I’d like to be left ALONE” he said the last word slowly, just in case the other needed trouble hearing it. 

Link was probably signing something, but Revali kept his head stubbornly ahead, walking back into his home after much time spent away. He shrugged the bag on his back onto the floor, refusing to even look at the hylian for fear he wouldn’t be able to stick to his new rule. No. More. Distractions.

He almost jumped as he received a sharp jab in his side, finally looking at Link if only to give him an annoyed glare. Link started to sign, a scowl on his face, but Revali turned his head to the ceiling with exasperation, ignoring whatever Link was trying to say. He would give up, eventually. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”.

Revali’s exasperation turned to shock as he felt a hand snake up behind his head to tug on one of his braids. “What is wrong with you?!” He shrieked, “Have you turned mad?!”. He winced, it was a good hard yank- enough that Revali couldn’t ignore who was in front of him.

‘Why are you ignoring me’ Link signed. 

Revali huffed, “have you considered I just don’t like you?” he asked rhetorically. 

‘When are you gonna stop being in a bad mood?’ Link asked. ‘I can come back tomorrow’ he offered.

“Never, don’t come back” Revali snarked, he’d had enough of this guy. It felt like he’d have to install a sign saying “NO HYLIANS ALLOWED” just to get him to go away, even then that still wouldn’t stop him. He was so close to just yelling ‘leave and never return’ at him.

Link gave him a look ‘not even if I make seafood?’ he asked. His look of concern told Revali he wasn’t even taking his anger seriously. Was Link that bull-headed? What could possibly get the point across his rock of a head?

Revali was going to throw him out a window. “I don’t care WHAT you do as long as you go away!”.

Link didn’t move, didn’t even look vaguely fazed. “Listen” Revali said “I don’t know who you think you are, but you might as well be dead to me. I have very important training going on, and I’ve been dragged away from it enough” he finished sternly, giving a stormy glare.

The little hylian didn’t leave, didn’t even frown. He just sorta analyzed Revali with a weird look. His supposedly threatening words didn’t even work in the slightest, Link’s response was to lean forward and give Revali a hug.

Had the rito been in his right mind, he probably would’ve said something akin to “fuck you” and pushed Link to the ground. But his brain was a little too busy short circuiting with endorphins. It felt like fire was racing around his middle where the hylian saw fit to trap both arms against his torso.

After a minute, he was ashamed to realize he was melting into the touch. Link began to pull away and Revali leaned forward after, the hylian seemed surprised but let the rito have his way. His skin was tingling in a way that was simply heavenly.

Finally, he snapped too and moved away- muscles tensing up in protest.

Link gave him a curious look. “Shut up” Revali breathed, mind still flooded with tingling sensations. It was like lightning was rippling under his skin.

The corners of his mouth were twitching upwards, and his face held a silent smugness that nearly screamed at Revali. 

“Shut. Up.” Revali growled back. Before he could say even a word more (he was having a hard time thinking), the hylian got a devilish look on his face. He widened his stance, before leaping forward, flinging himself at the rito.

Revali doesn’t really remember the next few minutes, he was trying to get away- possibly yelling and or hitting. But in the end he ended up settled, basking in someone else’s touch for the first time in a very long time. Link draped himself over the rito, his deceptively heavy weight combined with skin contact keeping Revali down for the count.

‘I’m pathetic’ Revali decided. He nearly died inside as he looked towards the door only to find a WITNESS. 

Teba poked his head inside the roost. “Oh yeah, I forgot to say that-” he stared at the hylian stubbornly taking up space in Revali’s roost, “Ah, you already met Link. He comes down here almost everyday, are you two friends?” Teba questioned. He didn’t even bother to listen for an answer before turning and leaving.

Revali sighed, feeling the urge to bash his head into the nearest wall. There really was no escape, was there?

(Honestly, if he got more of this he really didn’t want to leave).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I headcannon Revali is touch starved. 
> 
> That's it, that's the chapter. That's next chapter as well. I've given you some soft angst with fluff and now you get fluff.


	13. Touchy Feely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is 2 am and I have nothing intelligent to say here. Goodnight.

For as long as Link had known Revali, he knew that the rito didn’t really like other people too much. He was perfectly fine talking to others, in fact he seemed to thrive off talking. However he always kept a good 4 foot radius away from anyone, even Link. 

The blonde had figured he’d finally driven the rito off for good after the incident where Revali fell asleep. The rito was oddly… shy? No, closed off.

After he tackled Revali, there was fire racing through his veins and his brain was certainly sparking at the close contact, having lived alone for so long. Link was surprised Revali let them lay there for as long as they did before finally he got a bit too little shuffly and eventually he let Revali up. 

Just as Link suspected, Revali completely refused to acknowledge that anything had happened, vehemently denying anything other than that Link was “absolutely insane for tackling someone and holding them down” and “That should be considered assault!”. But he didn’t tell anyone else from what Link knew. 

It wasn’t till later he actually stepped back and considered what he’d done. Even if it was a hug, that didn’t mean Revali was in any way comfortable (though he’d seemed like it).

A one time incident Link figured, he stepped over the line and he wouldn’t do it again. He made sure to give Revali space over the next few times they saw each other.

Except… there was a wrench thrown in his plans.

It took a bit for him to actually notice. It started small, the rito would say something like “It’s impossible to see in that snow, well, unless you’ve got eyes like mine. You’re lucky I’m nice enough not to force you to climb back in that snow”. 

After a bit, Link realized they were going the wrong way. Rounding the side of the mountain instead of going straight up. For a few minutes he wondered if Revali was lost until they eventually made their way to his destination. Kind of slowly though, the rito seemed to be lazily gliding more than actual flying.

He didn’t question it until it happened again. For a while, he just thought Revali was bad with directions. He didn't want to point it out and potentially embarrass the other, so he keep his mouth (hands?) shut.

Then he started hovering, not off the ground, but behind the hylian. He’d be doing something mundane- chopping vegetables, and feel a presence behind him along with the barest brush of feathers against his back. As if the rito was less than an inch from him. Every time he turned though, Revali was at least several steps away.

The dots didn’t connect until he invited Revali to eat with him- not uncommon, he liked food. But he certainly noticed when the rito sat next to him instead of across the table like he normally did, forcing their arms into close proximity.

Revali talked on about a topic of his choosing, something about insufficient targets? For all Link knew he was talking about the people at the stable. Link didn’t listen though, he was plotting his evil plan. Slowly, carefully he moved his arm on top of Revali’s. It’d happened before and the rito leaped away as if stabbed. 

Nothing, though the feathers on the arm did become slightly floofier, however the rito did not break speech.

Laughing a bit to himself and eager to test his theory, Link got up from his finished food. “Where are you going?” the rito immediately complained, but seemed to tense as Link looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

‘Nowhere? This is my house’ Link told him. If he didn’t know better, he’d say Revali wilted a little.

But it was too quick to see, the rito regained composure, so Link decided to do another test. He was sneaky, strategically planning out his next attack. “Revali” he said softly. The other’s attention was caught, listening for the rare moment of vocalization. 

Link grabbed the blanket off his bed, shuffling over to be closer to the fire as he sat on it. He wrapped it around his arms, and lifted one arm in a clear invitation. “I’m cold” he whispered plainly.

The hylian had to stop himself from grinning as he watched Revali very obviously starting to puff up, before the rito stubbornly looked away, saying something like “Well you do live in the coldest corner of the region, don’t complain”.

He had to refrain from pouting. “Revali” he whispered, coughing a little at the voice use. 

Revali gave him a very scrutinizing ‘are you serious?’ look before huffing a bit. To Link’s surprise, he actually got up, moving to sit in the clear space he was beckoned to. Quickly, Link took the chance to finish wrapping the blanket around him. 

It was awkward at first as Revali very obviously tried to lean away, but as Link scooted closer insistently, he eventually relented. Link marveled at feeling that giant, soft, fluffy weight just sink into his side. It was crushing him a bit, but in a good way. 

I’m extremely selfish, Link decided as he very blatantly clung to the rito. He knew he was touch starved, a few years of being by yourself will do that to anyone. But he was exploiting the rito for it.

One thing Link had learned is that there’s absolutely no way to get Revali to do something he doesn’t want to do. So, he reasoned, if Revali gave in with little to no reasoning, it was probably because he secretly wanted to do it. Yeah, that was his logic as he buried his face in those warm, plush, neck feathers. Just letting himself slowly drift, mind mostly short circuiting from the contact.

It was nice, just sitting here and having someone to exist with.

Eventually, Revali asked something like “What, are you a barnacle now?” which Link took as the sign to let go. However when he tried to pull back, the rito immediately tightened around him. 

Huh. Link looked up questioningly, but Revali was pointedly not looking at him. “Get your fill so you stop acting so desperate” he huffed.

Well, he wasn’t going to argue with that. Link immediately went back to savoring the feeling, they were just melting into each other. 

“Are you going to want this again?” the rito asked suddenly. Catching Link’s gaze, he quickly explained “I want to know if you’re going to be able to function correctly or if you’re going to be begging me for this 24/7” he huffed. He had a feeling Revali wasn’t being entirely truthful, but decided not to press.

Link nodded, purposefully rubbing his head against the rito’s neck and shoulders. Fluff, so much fluff, he could fall asleep here it was so wonderful.

“Fine” the rito sighed “I guess I’ll indulge you, but you know the rules, a single mention of this and you’re dead to me”.

That’s fine, Link decided, marveling at the warmth of the other. I want this all to myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tired, it's 2 am, enjoy the fluff for I have nothing intelligent to say here. Surprise Link is also touch starved.


	14. Pumpkin (Halloween special)

Once upon a mid-morn dreary, whilst he pondered, weak and weary. Slaving over a piece of thick and forgotten lore, came a knock upon the door. As pages turned, gently flapping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of feathers impatiently rapping- rapping upon the cabin door.

Tis a visitor, Link thought, most likely Revali and nothing more. Ah distinctly he recalled, twas the middle cusp of fall. With the changing of the leaves came the day of hallow’s eve. They said that spirits roamed that night- disguise yourself or be subject to fright.

Open went the door and as expected, there was the rito- feathers perfected. Rustling in the snowy breeze and eager to get away from Hebra’s freeze. Link gazed upon his face with ease.

“Ready to leave?” the rito asked. Yes, Link was finished with his tasks. Clutching the rim of his curved, black, hat, the hylian nodded- and that was that. Off into the wind they went, soaring far as the rito started his descent.

“The kids will love you” Revali said, “But what are you wearing on your head?”.

‘A witches hat!’ Link signed back, the robes he wore matched- all glittering and black. All he needed was a cat, he preferred them over rats.

The rito had no care for dressing, he didn’t believe in curses or blessings. But he didn’t mind Link’s ridiculous gimmick. “Alright, as long as I’m not your broomstick” he quipped.

Down in Tabantha the leaves turned red, the crops were thriving as the corn grew heads. Pine needles dropped down leaving skeleton trees, and the wind howled- unlike it’s normal calm breeze. It was undoubtedly fall, no way to reason- everywhere you looked was a change in the season. But the best, best part of all? The entire reason Link had come down this windy fall?

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, fat and round. Slowly they lumbered from out of the ground. Pumpkins, Pumpkins, orange and big. Waiting to be detached from their brittle twigs.

Today was the day for pumpkin carving- and making pumpkin pie! Link was starving.

He was all too eager to go pick his out, but Revali didn’t let him- ignoring his pout. “There’s time for that later” the rito laughed, he flew them towards the village on a strong updraft. 

Ah yes the children, the sparkling youth. They were all just as excited as Link if that was the truth. They whined and begged and pleaded and asked, “When can we go to the pumpkin patch?”.

“Not yet” the elder said, “it’s not even noon!”. Even then, that would be far too soon. Link smiled as they passed, they were acting so aghast. But still so charmingly innocent, he would’ve easily relent. But they walked away, up to the kitchen for cooking, which Link wanted to pitch in this time- instead of looking.

“Let’s see, you’re making pie, I’m making roast. Caught it myself, not to boast”. Revali muttered to himself, opening the cupboard shelf- 

“Yahahaha! You found me!” The korok squealed with glee.

“Not again!” Revali shrieked “Those devils are everywhere, everywhere I see!”

As he shooed it out of sight, yelling “I don’t want your seed, alright?!”, Link thought to himself were the koroks up to tricks tonight?

Swiftly the korok was chased out the door, Quoth the angered Revali “Nevermore”.

He helped Revali with the meat, as he prepared to make something sweet- a pumpkin pie, his hallow’s eve treat. As they worked in the kitchen all day, the kids finally came back to play- picking their pumpkins in the patch all day. He could see that as the sunlight began to fade.

“What are you dressed as?” Teba asked little Molli, Link felt the white rito bristle when she responded “A rito warrior! Like Revali!”.  
Said rito mentioned puffed up with pride, as Teba stared with daggers in his eyes. It seemed pumpkins weren’t the only drama being cooked up tonight.

‘I’m going out’ Link informed, with his cloak he was perfectly warmed. ‘I’ll be back with the pumpkin’ Link said as he walked- right past Teba, still looking shell shocked. 

He walked during sunset, out of the village. To find a good pumpkin not already pillaged. The leaves crackled and crunched under his shoes, if he wanted to be back quickly he had no time to lose. Darkness was falling- swift and quick, luckily he only needed a minute to make his pick.

Pumpkins, pumpkins, which to choose? Surely a round and big one, he mused. He needed enough for everyone, so one- maybe two, which weighed a ton. No matter how big, he’d haul it back. That was his thought, until he felt a small tap-tap.

He turned, coming face to child- nervous and fretting, so he smiled. She was small, feathers a stark white, but why was she out here? Without an adult in sight. It was only a walk away he supposed, but the people were celebrating- yet she was alone and exposed. 

He said “Oh hello, I’m Link”, then gestured for her to speak. 

Wringing her hands, she asked quietly “um… c-can you do something for me?”.

Link stood patiently as she turned, pointing up at what she yearned. “There’s a pumpkin on that ledge, can you get it?” asked the small fledge. Up he stared and sure enough- there was a pumpkin, stern and tough. On the lining of a rockwall, this pumpkin had managed to crawl. And there it stood, prime and ready- too much for anyone to get down steady. Yet that wasn’t the reason that Link stared, the pumpkin had a noticeable flair.

It was a white as fresh fallen snow, as big as a pumpkin could possibly grow. Yes, it was perfect, perfect and giant. As Link gazed up, it stood defiant. 

“I’ll get it down” he promised her, the air was turning cold he realized- with a noticeable shiver. He walked to the rock, ready to climb it. The sun had fallen, it was chilly even for this colder climate.

But to his surprise, from out of the trees- an attacker appeared! They swayed side to side with the breeze. A monster, unlike anything Link had ever seen, covered in swaying branches, vines, and thick green leaves.  
Had this day truly risen the dead? What was this new creature, come for his head? The child screamed and ran behind him. He stood prepared, ready to tear it limb from limb. 

The monster lumbered, growing close. Link faced it down, his face morose. He studied this creature, looking over its strange features. No face to see, it appeared to be some sort of living tree.

Wait, a tree? No, it couldn’t be.

Link suddenly relaxed, in realization he basked, facing the thing head on. It soon became apparent to him there was no need for swords to be drawn. 

He walked over to it- the thing growling with grit, and poked it right in the head. So easily was the issue put to bed.

12 koroks, with giggles they were trying to smother, stacked on top of one another, tumbled out and about and with glee they started to shout. “Yahahaha! You found us!” they squealed, and thus- the mysterious was solved. Though he might have to have a word with the ones involved. 

“It’s okay” he told the frightened girl, the koroks just jumped happily- one even twirled.

The small one smiled, and grinned up at his face. All signs of her fears had been erased. The pumpkin was taken down easily, and Link offered it to her gleefully. 

It was too big for her to hold, “that’s alright” she said shyly- still not too bold. “You can have the pumpkin guts, but can you carry it back?”. He nodded confidently, he could see in the darkness even as the sky was black. 

With the youngling at his side, Link began a slow but steady stride. It was truly a monster of a thing, so big, pretty, and white- worthy of a king. By the time they got back, the festivities were in full swing.

“Thank you, Link” the little one said, it didn’t register as an odd statement in his head. 

It was only as he was setting the gutted pumpkin down, he thought more about it and began to frown. How did she know my name? He wondered, from the doorway to the kitchen, in another rito wandered. 

“I need a drink” Teba moaned, Link agreed watching the rito groan. As he turned, his eyes flashed with surprise, before saying “huh, I thought you were just working on the pies”.

Link tilted his head as the rito went on, “and here I thought that old ghost story was gone”.

Teba approached the table, smiling faintly. He began to talk, saying gently “They say that every year, one pumpkin grows white. To honor all those who died on this night”.

Link looked at the vegetable and did a double take, there- carved in small letters was something he couldn’t fake. A small signature- a name. Seeing younglings run past the door he asked ‘which one is Anye?’.

“Oh, Anye has already died. She fell from a cliff while too small to fly” Teba sighed. “But hopefully she rests peacefully, I know that’s not really much of a ghost story. But it means a lot to me. She was my ancestor, you see”.

Zoning out as Teba talked about ‘recreating decoration’, Link’s eyes grew wide at this new revelation. 

He wasn’t quite sure what happened that night, or if he even remembers it right. But somehow, somewhere far off near the patch- there was the awed stare of a small spirit who’d just barely hatched.

Was it a trick? Meant to give him a fright? He knew it kept him up thinking alright. But he didn’t concern himself with the sight. A wild incident for him to eventually ignore, for he shall see her nevermore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter, comment so I can see. I’m thinking of making another for Christmas, so feel free to encourage me. 
> 
> You can see my references to The Raven from Edgar Allan Poe. Glad you all read this, since now I’ve got to go. I did good with this chapter, at least I think. Anyways, have a Happy Halloween and I’ll see you next week.


	15. Sick

Link originally had plans for today, but he couldn’t quite remember them right now. His mind was clouded, fuzzy and delirious. Like there was a thick smog covering his head. He felt so gross.

It was hard for his brain to work. He felt stuck between awake and asleep, eyes blinking open every few hours to wander around drunkenly until he got some water. Only to fall back for what seemed like a few seconds, waking up feeling distressed and overheated. 

He jerked awake, not even realizing he’d fallen asleep, to a banging on the door. It took far too long for the sound to register in his mind, he only started moving when the door’s aggressor started to complain. “Come on! I’m freezing out here!” they shouted. The latch rattled under the abuse.

Right, the door had a latch now because of stray lizalfos.

“LINK!” they said again “I know you’re in there!” was exclaimed frustratedly.

Clumsily, Link made a slow scramble out of bed, half caught in all the sheets and blankets. He finally hobbled over to the door, unlocking the latch. Expectedly, the door flew open with a rito eager to get out of the raging snowstorm and where it was warm.

“About time! Do you hang all your friends out to… freeze…” Revali’s words died as he took a good long look at Link.

Link was sure he looked a picture right now. He hadn’t bothered to change out of his clothes from yesterday, so tired he’d just hopped in bed and decided he’d change tomorrow- a plan that was easily forgotten, leaving his clothes sweaty. His eyes were puffy, he could feel it. One nostril was clogged, the other only half open leaving his breath ragged sounding. The back of his throat felt raw. On top of all that, he swayed like a zombie, brain trying to identify the figure in front of him. 

He sniffled a little, and sneezed harshly. Revali made a face and quickly stepped inside to put a good meter radius between them.

Nothing came out, it was all still clogged. Link sucked in a wheezy breath harshly though his mouth. He closed his eyes again, the low light from the fire still being too bright for him.

There was a soft, cold, feathery pressure on his forehead. He happily leaned into it, soaking up the coolness momentarily before it was chased away by his raging fever. He made a noise of complaint as it drew away, wobbling forward unsteadily.

Two hands steadied him, grasping his shoulders. “Good heavens” they said, “You’re absolutely freezing”. Their name was on the tip of his tongue, but for some reason he just couldn’t seem to recall it. 

“-ink, Link, Link!” they said, he became aware of a hand frantically waving back and forth in front of his face, blurry. “Are you okay? Answer me!”. He did think his tongue would work right now, and his throat already screamed in protest with his breathing so he just nodded. Wait no, that wasn’t right, he shook his head. No, he was not okay.

“Okay, okay just…” Link let his eyes close again as he was yanked back over to the bed “Lay down” they insisted.

Link protested, while it was nice to be limp against the mattress, he swatted away the blankets dropped on top of him. ‘Hot’ he half heartedly signed. 

“Hot? You’re freezing!” they insisted, drawing the blankets up to his neck. He squirmed even more, thrashing to get away until they finally gave up and stopped trying to smother him.

“...how are you sweating so much?” they questioned. “Link, you need to take those thick clothes off, Link, do you hear me? Link!”.

Those words probably meant something, but they weren’t really registering to him. There was a grumble from the person above. Link didn’t protest much as he was sat up, the thick woolen tunic he’d had on for the past who knows how long was finally peeled from his body. He slumped in relief. 

“Come now, you need water” they tsked to themselves. 

“Mm fine” Link said, “Sleep” he insisted. He felt horrible, sticky and hot all over. He coughed at the use of his throat. It was uncomfortable wet with saliva but still too dry somehow.

“Come on Link” The person said as Link tried to lay down again. His eyes were firmly shut, he was whining at the unknown entity that would deny him unconsciousness. “Link” they said, “come on”.

Something smooth and cool was pressed to the bottom of his lip. He cracked his eyes open slightly to see a bottle of water. The dryness subsided temporarily. Once again, one second it was slipping down his throat, the next he was drifting off into the land of unconsciousness.

\---

“Are you awake this time?” was asked as Link cracked his eyes open. They were still blurry, but now his brain could identify the perpetrator. 

‘Revali?’ he brought his hands up to sign, but found that they were trapped under almost every single blanket he owned. So he just nodded. The rito sighed with relief. “What the hell happened to you? You look terrible” He said “And that’s saying something considering how you usually look”.

Link’s mouth twitched upwards at the corners, reminded of Revali’s ruthless and cutting insults, even to those who were sick. They should’ve been irritating, and at first they were, but as more and more time went on he listened to Revali talk and just laughed. 

His eyelids felt so heavy, it was a wonder he was even still holding them open. The room was much brighter now, the fire cascading everything in an evening orange glow. “Honestly, this is what I mean about making sure you aren’t dead” Revali continued on “You were so delirious when I came up here, what would’ve happened if I hadn’t? You’d’ve passed out and nobody would’ve found you” He said.

Two feathery fingers were pushed to his forehead. “Hm, still too cold” Revali remarked, “You said you were hot earlier, so this is probably a case of cold sweat or flu”. The rito ushered him upwards out of bed. “Come on, don’t freeze on me, sit down next to the fire”.

He was mostly leaning on the rito, making a sort of slow shuffle over in front of the fire. Link suddenly the event that possibly caused this state. Though he figured it wise not to mention to Revali that he’d fallen asleep under a tree and woke up buried underneath a pile of snow. Gently he was sat down, bundled in front of the fire.

He sat like that for two seconds, warmed to the bone, before Link slumped over on his side and laid like that on the floor. Much better. “Really?” Revali asked, huffing. Link nodded, cheek pressed into the wood. 

The rito sighed, went over and knelt in front of the fire much more elegantly then Link did, feet tucked underneath himself. For a good minute or two, they just sat there, soaking in the heat from the cozy flame. 

“You scared me for a minute there,” Revali said. Link thought it was sweet for about two seconds before he followed up with “I thought you were contagious, then I remembered you’re hylian and I’m rito” he laughed.

Link spent a good minute struggling to pop out his hands only to sign “I think you gave me bird flu”.

He started laughing at Revali’s puffing up and getting defensive. “BIRD FLU? How dare you! I am not a bird I am an esteemed Rito warrior and if you think we could catch and spread something as horrible as that then you’re wrong! You’re one to talk you little plague rat, I’m amazed this didn’t happen sooner!”

It was nice, having someone to talk to and distract himself with how his stomach churned. For once, he didn’t mind being sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who’s mother brought in a new heater for our 20 degree weather that triggered a severe allergy attack that lasted (and I’m not even exaggerating) 12+ HOURS. It took me 5 hours to stop sneezing, and even longer for my nose to stop dripping, I felt the effects for DAYS. I was already planning on writing a sick chapter, so I figured I should do it while I could properly describe the experience.
> 
> Btw I’m fine now, this happened the day Touchy Feely went up and I’ve completely recovered from my 3 day long allergy attack.


	16. Charline

Finally it was the day for Link to hold up to his promise to Revali. He made lengthy strides towards what he assumed to be the flight range. He could see the rito, soaring around, floating on the updrafts around there. As he watched, Revali seemed to hang in mid-air as he pulled back his bow and let fly several bomb arrows. The rock lit up with explosions, many targets being hit not from the arrows themselves, but the explosions caused. It was definitely an impressive show of archery to Link. But the rito didn’t seem satisfied, staring hard at the one target that remained, scorched but not shattered. 

Link tapped Revali on the shoulder, causing the Rito to whirl around. His eyes were tightened with annoyance, it seemed to Link that Revali had only three moods: annoyed, non-annoyed, and confident.

“You… you’re here for the talus aren’t you?” Revali asked, huffing. Link leaned around him, staring at the destroyed targets of the flight range.

“Never mind that” Revali dismissed him, “If you’re going to be spying on my training, I might as well spy on yours. Don’t get hit, if you do I’m not swooping in to save you”. He didn’t take that to heart, Link didn’t think he’d help, but it wasn’t like Revali was gonna let him die. (Like he would even break a sweat, it was just a frost talus). The Rito took off into the air from the doorway, a short burst of speed. Link watched as he flew up a short distance, onto the rocky shelf that the flight range was built into the side of.

“Well? Hurry up!” Revali called down impatiently, crossing his arms. He came off as impatient, but Link just thought he seemed frustrated. Ready to get back to whatever training he was doing before Link showed up.

It was a short climb, but it still took a minute. The way the Rito was staring down at him, Link wouldn’t be too surprised if he was considering pushing him back off. Instead, the Rito just stared, waiting as Link pulled him up and offering no assistance.

There it was, the gleam of the giant frosty boulder was unmistakable. He almost recalled his first sighting of one, and the horrible mistake that was poking it (He got frozen solid and hit. It hurt. A lot).

Revali stayed back as Link approached, as soon as Link got close enough the ground began to rumble. The snowy ground caved in as the talus rose up from where it was slumbering. Once it caught sight of him, Link hit it with a bomb arrow, aiming carefully for the ore above.

The effect was immediate, the stone monster wobbled and toppled over. It’s stone was hot to the touch, all the frost melting off as Link ran close to scamper up its torso. As soon as he was up, the talus was too. He started wailing on the ore, hitting as much as possible before he was thrown off.

Revali just watched from a distance, mildly entertained as Link flew (flew!) off its back and into the snow. 

Perhaps he really should intervene? It looked like a hard hit. Revali was learning more and more these past few weeks just how hard the ground felt when you were flung towards it.

That wasn’t necessary, it took a few seconds but Link popped back out of the ground like a gopher. The ice talus was right above him, covering him with his shadow. Link didn’t even get up, just pulled back another bomb arrow to fire it at the ice talus’s arm. 

“LINK!” Revali watched as both the hylian and the Talus emerged from the explosion at close quarter. The talus toppled over, and the rito watched with high eyebrows as Link once again scaled it- while on fire.

It seemed that the hylian simply had no care for personal safety. As soon as he was up on it’s head- er, rock, he started swinging his cobble crusher around, using his weight to smash into the stone multiple times. If the cold air didn’t put him out, the second fling into the snow certainly did.

Revali watched steam wafte up from the snow as Link got to his feet. As he watched, the hylian reared back his weapon over his shoulder before throwing the rocky weapon at the ore. This time, the talus didn’t just topple over, it fell over on the ground, turning a deep purple before poofing into hunks of ore.

Now that Link was out of the fray, Revali started berating him. “You were on FIRE! You idiot!” the rito snarled.

‘Thanks’ Link signed, smiling. ‘Do you want the ore?’ he asked, as if it was just another tuesday. Actually, if Link fought talus like this all the time, it could be.

“No” The rito scoffed, “I’m not a scavenger” he seemed to growl. On a huff, the rito turned and angrily stomped back to the flight range, gliding down into the doorway. Leaving Link confused from where he collected the gems in his arms.

Link jogged over to the ridge, watching as Revali immediately went back to what he was doing earlier. No small talk, no chattering, not even venting about whatever seemed to be ailing him.

Revali turned and nearly jumped, seeing Link there with his arms folded. The hylian was practically neck to chest with him, staring up at his face with a small frown. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

“Wrong?” Revali chuffed, “Nothing. You got rid of the talus, you have the ore. You can leave now” the rito moved past him, to a stack of wooden targets sitting in the corner. 

There was a hand on his shoulder, ‘Do you wanna talk about it?’ Link insisted.

Revali bristled “I’m not a child, I don’t need to talk about anything” he said “Now please go, I’m very busy” he said. Link watched as Revali took off, flying into the updrafts of the open air.

As he moved around the flight range, Revali could feel Link’s eyes on him. He was thankful when the hylian went back inside. As all the targets were finally replaced, Revali was preparing to go get more arrows and shoot, but Link was still (stubbornly) there. The rito ignored him, confident that if he didn’t listen to him, he’d just go away.

A tap on his shoulder. He ignored it.

Another tap, stronger this time. Revali shook it off.

“Hey!” Revali protested as he felt the arrows stolen out of his quiver. “You little thief” he glared darkly at the hylian, this one had nerve. Lots and lots of nerve. 

‘Do something with me’ Link said, signing while all the snatched arrows sat bundled under his arm. ‘It’ll be short, I promise’.

“Uggggggghhhhhhhhh- fine, what is it?” The rito complained, not in that endearing way that was talking about the mildly annoying things, but in a way that screamed anger. To Revali’s confusion, Link sat on the ground, crossing his legs. He motioned for Revali to do the same across from him.

Wordlessly, Revali sat down. He tried to ignore the way that Link beamed at him. Link signed, ‘now, repeat after me’ he settled a little before signing ‘I am strong’.

“This is stupid” Revali immediately started up. Link crossed his arms, giving a small glare of his own (it was more of a pout). Resigned, Revali grumbled “I am strong” in the smallest, laziest, most un-meaning voice Link had ever heard.

‘No no, you gotta mean it!’ the hylian insisted. 

“You’re wasting my time” Revali complained, but still he complied. “I am strong” the rito said. 

‘Good, now take a breath’ Link said, taking a deep breath himself. ‘Repeat after me, I am smart’ Link signed.

“I am smart”

‘I’m allowed to have emotions’

“I’m allowed to have emotions”

‘I have worth’

“I have worth”

‘I am loved’

“I… am loved”

Link noticed that little stop in his sentence, but non the less he smiled, reached over and gave the rito a small pat on the arm. ‘Better?’ he asked.

“That was childish” the rito replied, rolling his eyes “but yes, I guess your childish tactics worked. I hope you’re happy, now please” Revali held his hand out to receive the stolen items back.

‘No, food first. You’re still hangry’ Link said. Even though part of him wanted to deny it out of pride, he had been training a while. Revali supposed it couldn't hurt.

The rito sighed “fiiiiiinnnnneeeeee…” he dragged out. “You know how to cook seafood right?” Revali questioned. 

Link nodded, grinning. 

As they walked the long route from the flight range to rito village, Link of course had to spark the conversation with ‘so what name do we pick?’.

“Well, if you’re going to insist on naming them, why don’t you actually pick something that sounds a little more humane than Iceblaster” Revali said disapprovingly. 

‘Alright, what would you suggest then?’

“Well, there’s Link, since you’re both thickheaded”. Revali could feel Link smiling at him, happy that his little plan had worked.

‘Are you sure that’s better than ice blaster?’

“You know what? No, it isn’t. No name is as dumb as Link”.

(Eventually, they settled on Charline)

\---Extra---

‘I think Charline likes you’ Link signed to Revali.

Many a rito where confused at overhearing the shout of “CHARLINE HAS TRIED TO KILL ME FOUR TIMES” to which Link asked ‘Only four?’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit struggled not to type I am speed XD
> 
> SO, there's a certain chapter that HAS to happen during December before Christmas. and due to the fact I keep adding chapters to the update schedule, the chapter would be pushed back so I'm gonna be putting a bunch of chapters up randomly between now and then. (I do it anyways tbh). Next chapter we see why Ravioli is so upset.


	17. Storge

Revali felt himself at ease watching Link work his magic with cooking. But part of him had to wonder if the words he said to himself had any meaning. Of course he knew he was strong and smart, but he didn’t like to think too much about the other three.

Link was a distraction, but a welcome one. A distraction that kept him from mulling over the events that happened not but a few days ago. Only a week or two after getting back from his trip.

Tarrey town was a long flight away. All the way in Akkala. A new town built only a year ago, a multi-culture one as well, they were rare but slowly becoming more popular due to diverse trade as the 5 races slowly became closer. Rito, Gorons, Hylians, Gerudo, and even a few visiting Zora. He was almost tempted to ask Link if that teleportation device of his really couldn’t hold anyone else, but he liked the long flight. It gave him time to stall. 

Be polite but formal, be accommodating but not a pushover. Revali chanted this to himself as Tarrey town finally came into view. It wouldn’t be his first visit, but hopefully this one would be short. Only a day.

Revali landed, for a few minutes he simply walked around, hoping to himself that miraculously they’d be out of town for something and he’d have “just missed them”. 

“Revali!” no such luck.

Yami practically flew over to him. She was a short rito, feathers once being black as night but greying with age. Her build was similar to revali’s but with a white ridge alongside her crest. The rito shriveled with age, eyes constantly small wrinkled slits. She was almost as short as Link, save for an inch or two. “There you are! You’re late” she puffed. Nothing terrified Revali as much as the sight of his mother did.

“I ran into a storm on the way here, I apologize mother” Revali lied smoothly. If his breaks in flying happened to extend an hour or two, nobody had to know.

“Do you show up to all your events late? Do you think it’s acceptable to leave your family here, waiting for you all day? I did all I could to raise you and this is the thanks I get?” She asked, turning on her heel. Revali silently followed, her prattling on about respect and such. He’d long since learned to simply let her talk, trying to interrupt would just lead to screeching.

Arashi was waiting for them. The sight of his older brother made Revali sigh internally, yet it filled him with an incandescent dread over their past conversations.

Now that he thought about it, there were a lot of things he hated about his family. He hated all their traditional names ending in ‘I’. He hated that they moved to the sunny cusp of a volcano. He hated that he had dark blue feathers instead of his brother and mother’s black. But he couldn’t deny he still loved them, they were his family after all.

“Revali” the other greeted.

“Arashi” he greeted back. 

Revali could understand why people hated him, seeing the same smug look on his brother that probably could mirror his own. Instead of Revali’s piercing green eyes, Arashi’s held a deep dismissive purple, just like his mother.

Their mother, Revali corrected himself.

“You should’ve visited sooner,” his mother tsked, Arashi fell into step next to Revali easily. “Do you not love me anymore?” she asked- demanded more like. 

“Of course not” Revali said “How could I not love my wonderful mother?” he asked, “I only wished I could visit more” he said. It was a lie, but just a small one to make her feel better. There were a lot of small ones.

“Hmph” she didn’t care for the compliment at all. “Arashi” Yami asked “how has your training been going?” she asked. 

Of course, she wanted to ask about Arashi’s training. “Excellent” he chirped, “Today was a good one. I shot eight in one dive” he said smugly. 

8\. Revali scoffed, 8 targets in one dive was advanced, sure, but it wasn’t impossible. Revali did 18 on a regular basis. He could hit every single target in the flight range, but he didn’t bother to bring it up- not wanting to revive the argument of “there isn’t THAT many targets in the flight range” that his mother was petty with for over a week.

“Oh, how nice!” She cooed, finally they opened the door of their current abode. “Revali, isn’t it impressive to get so many targets in one shot?”. It was as if she forgot that he was a bowman too, and a better one. 

“Yes mother” Revali agreed, just one visit, then he didn’t have to see them until what, christmas? That was a fair trade. Just, behave for one visit Revali, he scolded himself. You have to be nice to your family, he said.

Arashi made a note of shoving himself through the door just a second before Revali was going to step inside. He rolled his eyes behind Arashi’s back. Mother, Brother, Revali- that’s how the hierarchy worked.

Of course, his mother didn’t like that. “Revali, why are you so short with people? First you insist on living alone and now you won’t even talk to us?” she complained. 

“Well, I just think you said everything I wanted to say” he said, attempting to salvage the conversation, “Arashi is an impressive bowman after all”.

But not impressive enough, he added in his head. Yami twittered, mulling over this as they sat down around the table. Finally she said “Revali, cook for us won’t you?” she asked. He obliged, not because he wanted to or anything, but he knew that his mother would throw a hissy fit and probably play the guilt card on him if he refused. 

“I cook, clean, and clothe you for 18 years and this is the treatment I get?” she’d whine every time he protested. No matter he’d just gotten there from a 6 hour flight, and that his wings were tired. And Arashi would agree with her, it was always two against one.

Always.

“Yes Mother” was all he said. Revali was practically a parrot at this point, his agreements felt empty considering he was saying the same two words over and over again.

Back to being ignored. Yami immediately turned and started talking with her older son. “Oh, isn’t it wonderful now that the neighbor finally left? No more of his arrogance, finally it's so much more peaceful” she started. 

Revali tuned them out, letting his mind focus on the motions his hands were going through. Butter the pan, salt the raw fish. Let sit for 4 minutes then turn to the other side and repeat. Take the vegetables, chop and mix. Get the fish onto the plate. Cut the fish, even strips an inch wide. Move to plates and serve.

The finished dish was finally on the table, he could eat and then go to bed. Maybe he could encourage his brother to show him his ‘great archery’, that’d waste an hour or two.

Arashi eagerly dug in, but Yami stared down at the plate with disdain. “...Is this Bass?” she questioned. 

Revali didn’t move but his insides froze. ‘Here it comes’ he huffed to himself. “Yes,” he answered.

Yami scowled “Ugh, why did you cook bass? You know I hate it” she pushed her plate away from herself like a child. “Cook something else” she stated. 

“What?” He gawked at her “but last time you said I should bring hearty bass when I brought trout! And the time before that you said I should bring trout when I brought Salmon!”. And every single one of those she berated him for not listening to her.

“Oh well…” Yami folded her arms, looking away from him “maybe I just don’t like fish. Cook me something else”.

Revali practically had to growl the words out “What. would. you. like.” he grumbled.

“Don’t use that tone with me!” she snapped at him. Revali cursed himself for his slip up, but the dam was already broken. “I didn’t have to take care of you. All I want is something I’ll actually like eating from a son who barely appreciates me. Who barely does anything I might add! You’re quite possibly the laziest person I’ve ever met, you probably made fish knowing I couldn’t eat it just so you could eat the entire thing yourself! You scavenger! Why did I even bother raising such a fat child?!”

He ducked his head submissively, mumbling quiet “yes mother”s all while she continued talking. His brother was laughing at him, happily eating the fish. 

Revali had to sit there, through her entire rant lest he get up and she start screaming at him. “Now, shut up and go make something else since you can’t be bothered to contribute anything other than a failed meal!” she ended. 

Blankly, he started making some hearty fried greens and steak. His mother’s love of meat was rampant, and she’d reject anything that was purely vegan. By the time he turned around, she and Arashi had finished the entire fish.

\---

But even after all that, Revali found it in the back of his mind while talking to Link. “What? No, there’s no way you really did all that for him. Wildberries and molduga guts are one thing, but that’s over a hundred and ten bundles of wood!” he exclaimed.

Link nodded, “How in Hyrule?! That’s weeks of work, easily!” The rito said, shocked.

The hylian got a little wicked gleam to his eye, ‘I have a secret technique’ he said.

“What, crime? The only way you could get that many in that short amount of time is if you stole them” Revali said, grinning.

‘Oh but the best part was the wedding, during the vows…’ Link kept telling the story as Revali sat, feeling completely relaxed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The secret ingredient is crime.
> 
> I saw a prompt on tumblr about Revali having a family that didn’t necessarily abandon him, but made him feel like he had to be above perfect. And I just- ran, with it. 
> 
> Storge means family (familiar) love. No, I’m not sorry.


	18. Twigs

Most days, Link just let his hair do whatever. It was semi-long, long enough to throw up into a short ponytail and just forget about. Occasionally he’d lose his hair band without realizing it. If he was in the desert, he’d put it up so it didn’t scrape his skin and his neck was thankful. And he made sure it was presentable before going into gerudo town (didn’t wanna be caught because of messy hair), but usually that was the most effort he put into it. 

Honestly, he didn’t even realize anything was wrong until Revali slammed his hands down. “Look,” the rito said, “I realize that appearance isn’t generally something you ever think about, but that’s just…” the rito made irritated hand gestures “completely and utterly appalling, at least have SOME decency”.

Link couldn’t figure out what the rito was on about, Revali had this ability to just absentmindedly degrade everyone around him but that was a little much. “Hm?” he settled for making a questioning sound from where his hands were full (it was his fourth bowl, but that hardly mattered).

It was an extremely cold night, the snowsnow reaching all the way to rito village. Revali claimed the only reason he was allowed inside was so he didn’t freeze, but Link liked to think the rito was warming up to him.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

Like, ice age slow.

But it was still progressing, and Link didn’t really care. But so far he hadn’t really done anything, he hadn’t even moved from where he was seated on the floor. Revali was just sort of glaring at him. Except for itching his head occasionally, he hadn’t done anything.

“Honestly, can’t you at least remove the stick?!” the rito demanded. Stick? He didn’t have a stick, he didn’t think the spoon counted, but he held it up questioningly anyways.

Link watched Revali’s eye twitch, a bit of an tic when he was irritated. “Your hair you idiot! It looks like you rolled around on the ground!”. Understandingly, Link reached up and felt around his head, sure enough, the source of the itch was a small twig. He gave a small tug- no give, it was sure tangled up there. 

Seeing as that was gonna be a whole mess to comb out, Link just went back to eating which made Revali visibly bristle. “What? You aren’t gonna take it out?” Revali asked rhetorically. 

Link shook his head, continuing to eat his rice. That was a problem for later Link. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he swore he saw Revali pulling at his own braids, he was too busy eating to look up though. Slowly, since he wanted to actually taste the food.

“How DARE you show your face with that… thing, on your head” the rito said in a deadly tone of voice. From what Link knew, Rito were very clean people- or maybe just Revali. 

Link finally finished the bowl to sign, ‘I’ll get the twig out of my hair when I go to bed’ probably. ‘If I remember’ he added honestly.

“IF?” For some reason, Revali seemed to be stressed out over the twig. Link shrugged, if the twig wasn’t too bothersome he might just leave it for when he decided he needed to deal with it. Which… might be a day or two.

Actually, he’d had an itchy head for a day or two already. Thinking back, Link spotted the point in his memory when he probably picked up the twig. ‘I visited a stable with a dog, it knocked me to the ground with affection so that’s probably when I got the twig’.

“And when was that?”

‘Oh, maybe a few days ago, it’s wednesday right?’

“Saturday” Revali said in a strained voice.

‘Ah’ Link calculated the days in his head ‘A week then, right after my last visit’.

“That's it!” Revali got up with an angry flourish. “If you tell anyone I did this for you, You’ll never be heard from again. But I want you to know you’re pathetic for just being okay with TWIGS” he spat the word with the same emotion someone would say “you just vomited all over my food”.

Link was more than okay with being pathetic, it was just a twig, he didn’t see what the big deal was. He said he’d deal with it, was it really such a big deal? Apparently to the rito it was. Revali stomped past Link, to a dresser. He couldn’t see what was grabbed, but soon enough the rito was sitting behind him, staring down his mortal foe in the shape of Link’s hair. And the foul entity that resided inside it.

Link was surprised by the sensation of thick, feathered, fingers in his hair. Slowly getting to the source of the tangle and working from there. Usually doing his hair involved a lot of pulling, but this was painless. “Your hair is too tangled for a brush” Revali grumbled “Be grateful I’m saving you”.

From what? Link wanted to ask, but figured if he didn’t want to be detangling his own hair he should keep his trap shut. He settled for an ear wide grin as the twig was slowly freed from eternal damnation. 

As if sensing his amusement, Revali snappily said “Shut up”.

‘Can’t get any quieter than this’ Link signed, just stating a fact. A smug and far too amused fact. The rito huffed, but couldn’t argue the blatant truth. Soon, the stick was gone- cast aside by the one who dared to challenge Link’s hair.

The feeling was… nice. Soft warm fingers would card through his hair, scraping gently against his scalp until finding a snag, then all the fingers would focus on that spot until it was thoroughly sorted through. Rinse, repeat. It was a slow, hypnotizing process, one that Link was savouring. 

“Stop leaning” Link didn’t even realize he was slowly falling to the side until a hand righted him. He blinked from where his eyes were closed. “Only children fall asleep while getting their hair brushed, honestly” the rito hummed to himself, muttering about sticks and stupid sleepy hylians.

He couldn’t help it, it felt so nice. ‘Really nice, soft’ he signed a little sloppily. The rito hummed, finally done with finger combing. He brought the actual brush up to Link’s hair and started brushing it. 

Link tensed, expecting pulling, but no- just gentle tugging. Slowly the brush was carded through his hair so not to rip anything. The rito started at the ends and worked his way to the base of his hair… when was his hair tie taken anyways? That didn’t matter. Link melted into putty as the brushing got closer and closer to his scalp, the bristles softly drawing lines into it.

Revali had to gently push him back into position a few times, Link kept falling back- leaning into the sensation. The soothing motion of bristles massaging over his scalp, front to back, over and over again. When the brush finally let his hair and didn’t return, Link almost complained. Almost.

For a moment he just sat there as Revali got up and started moving around. Before he knew it, he was being buried in blankets. “There” the rito scoffed “If you’re going to fall asleep at least now you won’t freeze”.

Link smiled as he was thrown a pillow, “And finally you don’t look like you’re attempting to entice birds with prime nesting material” the rito said.

Before Link fell asleep, he remembered signing ‘prime?’. He dozed off to Revali prattling off about how of course it was prime after he brushed it. 

\---Extra---

When he woke up, Revali swore up and down that he’d “never be touching that bird's nest again!”. But to Link, never just meant “until you’re stubborn enough”.

Link struggled not to smile at Revali’s outraged crow of “AGAIN?!” as Link walked in with not only sand AND dirt, but foliage as well. 

‘It’s tangled’ was all Link signed as he was promptly sat down and given a stern tongue lashing. The hylian all but purred at the melting feeling of fingers picking apart the tangles and combing them back into proper waves.

“When I said don’t get anymore sticks in your hair, I did NOT mean switch to LEAVES” Revali grumbled. Link wouldn’t be telling him anytime soon, but if he happened to get his head stuck in a bush in gerudo valley on purpose, well… he liked being brushed.

\---Extra Extra---

“What on earth is that guy doing?” The disguised yiga whispered to their partner. They appeared to be looking at a person with their head stuck in a… bush…

“Let’s just pass by” the other whispered back. 

‘Let’s see how long never is after THIS’ Link thought madly to himself, shaking his head vigorously among the branches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure you brush your loved ones. Not with a spiky brush though, those are the worst, just fingers if possible. Brush them, lots. And make sure to brush yourself too. Brush.


	19. Braids

Revali was ashamed to say that the brushings… had become regular. Every single time he’d claim it was the last. But weekly, the small blonde hylian would just waltz in, hair protruding a myriad of hitchhikers from his travels. Just the sight of leaves, straw, sticks, sap, and Hylia knows what else sticking out of those golden locks was enough to send Revali’s brain into a tizzy. It was like a pet peeve of his, he couldn’t stand messy people and most important- messy hair. It was like he could feel the grime itself on his skin.

It’s fine, Link was a, erm, friend right? They were close enough for it to not be weird, Link seemed fine with it. Actually, if Revali didn’t know better, he’d say Link was doing this on purpose.

“HOW.” Revali demanded, there, completely tangled and trapped in Link’s hair was a bug, an electric rhino beetle if he could recall. It was squirming around uselessly, unharmed but very much trapped. It was upside down, and stuck like that.

‘Help’ Link signed with panic, ‘I don’t know how it got there’ he said. Revali was so tempted to smack him over the head, but he didn’t wanna crush the poor little beetle. With a resigned sigh, he went over to the shelf and got an empty jar, so that it could be relocated back to its natural habitat after capture.

Carefully, delicately, he did his best to extract the thing from Link’s hair. A hard task considering he had large fingers and it was a small bug. But eventually, he got it’s leg free and started working on it’s torso. Concentrating intensely, Revali managed to quickly untangle the bug and drop it in the waiting jar. It quickly flipped itself back over as he put the lid on it snugly, that was an invasive species crisis he didn’t need to deal with.

THEN, he started into Link.

“There are NO words for how unacceptable this is, a beetle? When I said prime nesting material I did not mean bugs. If you’re going to be bringing bugs, then just stay out of rito village. If you bring fleas or aphids here, you’re banned forever. I understand maybe some dust, but by the high holy goddess herself WHY BUGS”. Revali made sure every word was laced with venom.

Link looked at him sheepishly. Revali got up and started walking away as he kept talking.

“The only reason I’m doing this is because I don’t want whatever other diseases or termites you have on you, don’t move- don’t even breathe” the rito ordered.

Link sat patiently, maybe he’d gone overboard this time… no more rubbing his head on trees for sure, at least not in the faron region. At least he could give the beetle to Beetle later on, maybe he’d give whatever he got to Revali later as a sorry gift. 

Revali came back with a basin full of… water? He sat the small tub behind Link, it wasn’t big, big enough to dunk his head and shoulders in maybe.

“Now, stay still as I decontaminate you” Revali demanded. Link didn’t protest much as he was leaned back until his neck hit the rim of the tub, then the back of his head was gently dunked in. 

Revali bristled, seeing the cloud of dirt that immediately floated through the water from his hair. “UGH, that’s just disgusting. If you’re to be acquainted with me, you need to be clean- without me doing the cleaning. It’s not only unacceptable as a rito, but to any race, even gorons and they’re rocks themselves for heaven’s sake-”

The rito probably said more, but Link wasn’t focusing on that, he was reveling in the feeling of fingers sorting through his hair. Hair floating freely in the warm water. At some point, his head was lifted out of the basin- still above it to not get water all over the floor, but a brush started pulling through the locks. 

Link was just basking, floating freely through the world and savoring the nice contact on his skin. Carding through his wet hair in long, slow, strokes. He could understand why cats liked being pet so much.

The brush was set aside in favor of a towel being wrapped firmly around his head. Link squirmed a bit as the towel was rubbed through his scalp. “Stop moving” Revali snapped, stopping his neck from crushing his fingers.

His hair was ruffled up as it was dried, but then smoothed back out with combing fingers.Revali began to talk again “You should be thankful I’m doing this for you, taking my personal time just so you aren’t walking around looking like you just rolled out of a bog” he said. 

The hylian didn’t reply, slowly leaning back into the combing fingers. Revali eventually gave up on trying to get him to stay upright. Link just looked so… relaxed. Like he was about to fall asleep any second. After thinking on that for a second, Revali said “Don’t fall asleep on me”.

Revali was working through a particularly troublesome lock of hair when the strangest thing happened. A low, rusty, rumble started emitting from Link. It was in the back of his throat, choppy and a bit uneven, but it was there.

He pulled his hand away, and the rumble stopped. As the rito started to sort through his hair again, the noise returned. Revali was slightly concerned he was suffocating, it would serve him right for the bug. 

No, purring. Revali realized. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he recalled that Hylians technically evolved from a form of cat. The same thing lynels branched off of. Eventually, he just started making random motions, watching as Link sunk deeper and deeper into his lap, rumbling like an earthquake.

It’s only something they do when they’re relaxed and happy, he heard in the back of his mind. That little nugget of information gave him a puff of pride. Of course anyone would find this relaxing. Revali’s hand kept absentmindedly carding through his hair, listening to the deep thrum that came from his chest to his throat. 

After a few minutes of this, Revali realized two things. One, Link had disobeyed his one rule and fallen asleep. Second, because of the first point- he was now stuck, with a purring hylian in his lap. God forbid if Teba walked in, he couldn’t explain this one.

Revali sighed, settling back down. He supposed it wasn’t so bad, now what to a sleeping, vibrating hylian? He looked down at the hylian’s hair, now dry. Slowly, carefully, the gold strands were parted- sectioned and wrapped around each other in a fine crafted rito art that’d been part for thousands of years.

\---

“Wake up Link”

He snuggled back into his pillow, it was too early. “LINK” the voice said exasperated. “It’s been an hour, get up!” they complained “I know i’m soft, but you’re just being clingy”. Wait, he knew that voice.

He opened one eye, sure enough, he was pretty much draped in Revali’s lap, feathers tickling his nose. “Finally” the rito huffed.

Link craned his head up to look at Revali dead in the eyes, before settling back down to sleep. “HAVE YOU NO SHAME” the rito squawked, “Get OFF!” Revali finally shoved him off his lap and onto the floor.

This time, he didn’t fall for Link’s whining, it was on the floor for the lazy bones. Link yawned, stretching and running his fingers through his hair- he paused.

It was braided. His sideburns had been braided into two, complexly weaved braids. There were thick beads at the end, holding them that way. The back of his hair was no different, pulled into a complicated four strand braid, and held that way by another colorful ornament. 

“I figured” Revali said, a hint of nervousness in his voice “that you’d be more careful about ruining it if it was put up that way”.

Link smiled, hands coming up to sign a thank you. He rubbed his throat a little, his throat felt a little strained, weird.

“Don’t tell anyone it was me” Revali said quickly, “You don’t want to card around the fact you’re a plague carrier hm?” he asked, Link nodded.

“There” Revali said “Now if you don’t stop getting stuff in your hair, I’ll make you do it yourself next time. If you bring ANY more bugs back here you’re banned” he made it a point to glare.

‘If I promise to stop getting stuff in my hair, will you braid it again?’ Link asked ‘like, more often?’ hopefulness was laced in his eyes.

Revali slowly turned to stare hard at Link, dots slowly connecting in his mind. “If you’ve been purposefully dirtying yourself because of that, I’m going to throw you out a window”.

Link’s guilty chuckle was not a good answer.

And that’s why Revali was trying to throw Link out the window when Teba arrived to ask where the basin was. No Teba, Revali hasn’t snapped and proclaimed war on the hylians, just the one. No Teba, Revali’s not going to kill him as soon as you turn your head. Yes Teba, the hylian was asking for it.

Link got his braids, worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hylians are cats now, canon. Nintendo never said they weren't so clearly they are. Yep. Trust me I studied all the Zelda of Legend.
> 
> Also, remember how I said two chapters ago that I had too many chapters since a certain ordering needed to happen leading up to Christmas? yeah I fucked up and now I gotta write three more chapters between here and the December chapters. I am very bad at math :/


	20. Slate

By now, Revali knew better than to assume he knew everything about Link. Every time he thought he’d figured him out, something threw him for a loop. Not that he wasn’t pleasantly surprised Link was a rather… active person. 

Mentally, he went over his list of what he knew about Link. Blonde, short, hylian- the basics. Likes shiny things, collects diamonds, has a special affinity for headbands, circlets, and earrings, usually wears two blue hoops. Loves killing talus and names all the ones he finds, cleans them out every blood moon. Can talk, but doesn’t prefer talking too much unless needed. Hates timewasters. Regularly eats his own weight in food. Moved to Hebra two years ago from… somewhere...

Revali grimaced, the hylian had amassed a bundle of info from him yet the rito didn’t seem to know the first thing about him. Even little things! Where he moved from, does he like salt or pepper, did he prefer red or blue? He didn’t know.

He was mulling over how to approach this subject when he caught sight of something… odd. The rito was preparing to fly off, seeing as Link wasn’t home. (he wasn’t planning on coming back later, he wasn’t). Out of the corner of his eyes, there was a blue glow manifesting in the middle of the shine. It was a flash that caught his eye.

Turning his head towards the shrine tucked underneath a bit of rock, he caught sight of blue tendrils floating down to form… a body! It gained color and lost glow and suddenly he was staring at Link.

Okay, he’d already witnessed several questionable things that he’d openly gawked at. No more, time to be calm, collected, and to not be shocked. 

Revali hopped off from where he was perched on Link’s roof, landing in front of him right as he was walking up to his house, and very calmly said “Link, what the fuck was that”.

He thought he’d stated it pretty clearly, but Link looked at him, blinking confusedly. The two raised eyebrows he got were enough to know the hylian didn’t have the slightest idea about what he was talking about. Revali waited a second, before gesturing to the shrine. “Do you think I’m blind? There was something there, a glow”, he paused a minute before saying “Unless you’re some sort of glowworm, and you look like one, that’s not natural for hylians”.

At least he hoped it wasn’t, because if not, that was just plain weird.

Link finally seemed to realize what he was getting at (like it wasn’t obvious!). He pointed to behind him at the shrine questioningly, as if to ask “what, that?”, Revali groaned. Slow, this one.

“Yes! That. What was that? Don’t tell me you’re bioluminescent” Honestly he wouldn’t be too surprised if Link suddenly revealed himself to be some sort of secret creature that morphed itself into a hylian to blend in with the rest of the world.

Link’s mouth suddenly twitched upwards into a smirk, never a good thing. His hand reached down to his waist, where a rectangular pouch was sat. Revali always assumed it was some sort of book held there. But as Link reached inside, what he pulled out was anything but a book. 

It was an odd rounded rectangle, with a handle on one side. It looked like it was made of stone, metal, and something else. There were odd carvings all over it, Revali recognized the Sheikah symbol on the back of it before. As he touched it, it lit up blue and orange. 

Before Revali could open his mouth to ask, Link was suddenly glowing, floating, and then gone. Tendrils of blue light burst into the sky, disappearing high into the clouds, impossible to trace. It all happened in a split second, nearly too fast to see. Suddenly he was alone, looking at the intent in the snow where the hylian had been. This time he caught himself before his shock could show, steeling himself just in case the hylian was somehow watching (he didn’t want a repeat of the singing incident).

Not a moment later the light was back. Just like how he saw earlier, blue quickly snaked down from the sky, dipping under the cover of the rock where the shrine sat. On the decorative circle in front of the shrine, Link reappeared, the light moving to form limbs, features, and finally him.

Revali controlled his gawking, folding his arms to prevent them from flailing. It was only when Link walked up to him that he quickly got a hold of him. Instead of maybe saying something like “WHAT IN THE NAME OF HYLIA”, he cleared his throat and said “So… it teleports? People?”. He leaned over just to get a better look at the design of the slate from where it was hanging in Link’s hand. 

Link put it back in it’s pouch to sign ‘It only teleports you to the shrines’ he said.

Even without that limitation, that was an absurd amount of power. “So, it’s an instant transport device? I wasn’t aware that kind of power had been invented” the rito remarked. Though it would be like the sheikah to create a technology purely to hoard to themselves. He was a bit surprised though, since Link didn’t look sheikah. Half maybe? 

The hylian (sheikah?) shook his head, ‘Ancient tech’ he said, ‘one of a kind, only one found’ he explained. 

Well, he supposed that made more sense then. “So… you’re a sheikah researcher?” Revali asked, there’s no other way he’d have that kind of tech. 

Link shook his head again, ‘no’ he stated. 

“Then why do you have it? I’ve heard the sheikah scientists would murder over more technology” actually, haven’t they been excavating something? He remembered back two or three years ago rito village was flooded with sheikah because of a giant piece of ancient tech being located in Hebra.

‘I’m the only one who can use it. The slate is-’ Link signed a word Revali wasn’t familiar with ‘-only for me to use’.  
“I’m sorry, what was that word?” Revali asked, his sign was pretty good, but not perfect (He’d have to rectify that quickly). There were some longer, complicated words he didn’t know.

‘C-A-L-I-B-R-A-T-E-D’ Link signed out. ‘It’s useless to anyone else’ he said ‘given to me as a gift’. 

The rito probably should have questioned this more, but honestly he didn’t care for technology (especially if he couldn’t use it). He had but one question. “So… is that how you managed to get your hands on Porgy? I guess traveling across the land is pretty easy when you can teleport almost the entire way there” From what Revali knew, those shrines were practically everywhere weren’t they? 

“You know, some of us can’t be that lucky. It takes entire days just to get from Hebra to anywhere else. I guess it’s good you can keep up with me though, I don’t care for stragglers. In fact I’ve been developing a secret technique that will allow me to go farther and faster than anyone else” The rito turned back to conversation.

Link smiled to himself, putting the slate away. He was glad Revali dropped the conversation, he didn’t want to answer more questions- lest he start lying. But like he thought, Revali wasn’t interested in anything that was useless to him.

“So” the rito started up “It’s come to my attention that you know far more about me then I know about you, which isn’t fair” he said. “So tell me, do you prefer red or blue?” he asked.

As Link continued the short trek to his house he answered ‘Well, I usually prefer Blue over Red, but truthfully my favorite color is Green’.

“Green” the rito parroted, good to know.

It was a start, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, as much as I hate to do this, I'm gonna have to move the bi-weekly updates to just weekly updates. At least for now. I've been going through a bit of writer's block lately for this story, too many future chapters are either unfinished or not even started. Don't worry! No hiatus or anything, and I'm gonna start having a lot more time at home starting November 21st and the coming weeks after until Christmas. After age of calamity comes out I've got a lot of chapter planning and writing to do, (I wrote most of these chapters out of order, so it's gonna be a doozy). So yeah, this is probably gonna end after the holiday season (or sooner once I've got my mojo back) but for now it's just gonna be Saturdays. Thanks and hope you understand.


	21. Only you

This… magic technology certainly explained quite a bit. Link loved cooking, but most of his ingredients were ones that grew very far from Hebra. (Revali once commented about how he must be very determined to gain his approval to go all the way from Hebra to elsewhere to get hearty radishes).

Once again, Revali was waiting inside Link’s house. Having planned a meeting that seemed long forgotten, It’d been an hour.

The rito warrior was contemplating if it’d seem too clingy to leave a note, when the door finally opened. “Finally, I-” he started to say, words dying as he caught sight of the figure in the doorway.

There was Link, Revali almost didn’t recognize him without the familiar puffiness of snowquill. He wasn’t dressed for the cold, if anything he was dressed for heat. His hair was up in a high poofy ponytail, the only thing covering his chest were a series of belts. One arm and shoulder was covered in armour while the other was bare. His legs were covered by beige pants alongside white boots. The sight was enough to leave the rito a loss for words. There was actually quite a bit of heavy muscle to the small hylian...

“What.” he managed to get out as Link walked past him. On his back was a great frostblade, taller than he was. Link took the frostblade off and leaned it against the wall, seeming to catch his breath. Revali finally remembered his anger, “Where have you been?” he demanded, “I’ve been waiting an hour!”.

Link had the decency to look sheepish. “Sorry” he verbalized before switching to sign ‘Went to gerudo desert, took a long time’ he said.

“And what, pray tell- did you need to do in the desert that took so long?” Revali asked. Link looked back towards the dying fire before offering to tell Revali over food for his troubles. Revali accepted, after all he wasn’t going to turn down foreign ingredients. 

‘I was at Kara Kara bazaar, deciding if I should search left or right first for voltfruit when I ran into this rito absolutely dying from the heat. So I traded him some cold elixir since it seemed like he really needed it’ Link said.

“Okay… and it took an hour?” Revali asked.

‘No, that was just the first detour’ Link said, ‘As I was getting near gerudo town, there was a woman in front talking to the guards so I couldn’t get past. I got closer and it turns out she needed Molduga guts because her husband was dying’ he said ‘But none of the guards could get it for her since they were already missing a guard’.

“Geez” Revali said “That’s a bit harsh”. The world really was cruel like that, wasn’t it?

‘So I decided to get it for her’ Link said. Revali felt like he should have seen that coming. ‘There’s a Molduga that made it’s territory right around a shrine, so I teleported there and killed it’.  
How casual, just “I teleported there and killed a creature that’s almost impossible to get above ground without some sort of bait- risking getting eaten whole”. Honestly, Link could use to add some grandeur to his words. Make it sound as great as it actually was.

‘After I got the guts to her, she thanked me and I went to get arrows from a merchant. I was thirsty so I was going to get a drink when I noticed a little girl crying’ Link said ‘I went to check on her, and it turns out she was trying to grow a garden but nothing was growing because the water was dirty’.

This story just kept getting wilder and wilder. “So, you just randomly decided to check on a crying little girl?” Revali asked dryly. 

‘Yes, wanted to make sure she wasn’t lost or hurt’ Link stated. Revali was about to comment on that, when he remembered something from a while ago. As soon as he’d gotten back from his training trip, a little rito named Molli came up to tell him a story he’d heard at least four times before, only with the ending this time. Seeing as Link had gotten the end for her, he figured he should keep his beak shut.

“It’s a shame there wasn’t anything you could do for her, rulers need to be more strict on supplying their cities with clean water-” he started up, but Link waved his hands to stop him.

‘I followed the trash, and it turns out there was someone sitting up in the waterways throwing hydromelon rinds down the water to get rid of them as they were eating. I asked them to stop and they said they’d only stop if they had wildberries to eat’ Link explained.

“How rude” Revali commented, but let Link finish his story.

‘So I gave her some and once she was full she felt better and even went to go help the girl clean up the water and plant the patch- which is now a wildberry patch!’ Link finished. 

“Wait, isn’t that organic waste though? Why would it-” but Revali was cut off by flying hands.

‘After that, I was gonna get something cold to drink but the bartender didn’t have any more ice and was too busy to get some more from the icehouse, so I offered to go for her’ he explained. ‘The way to the icehouse had a bunch of lizalfos nesting there, so I got rid of them as well, she said that she was impressed with how much ice I hauled since the sun usually melts most of it’.

This was just getting unbelievable.

‘As I was drinking my water, I overheard some women talking about a secret club they managed to get in. So I asked around, got the password and went in’ he said.

“What, just like that? Who even told you??” Revali asked. Link shook his head.

‘Sorry, secret. But I got this armor from them, so it was worth it. After that as I was leaving I asked the guards about the missing member of their trope and they said that a guard got kidnapped by the Yiga clan’.

The Yiga clan? Wow, what a day. 

‘So I broke into their hideout and busted her out’ Link finished.

Revali was… at a loss for words. “The most dangerous organization of criminals in all of history and you simply BROKE IN?” he asked, staring at Link gobsmacked.

“Yes” Link answered, nodding happily. 

“And… that’s what took so long?” he asked. 

‘Well, I detoured a little to steal their ore and bananas’ Link casually mentioned. If this… little hylian was being honest, then Ganon himself should be afraid. Revali started to consider bringing Link along to fight something sometime. The frost talus seemed a bit too easy for him now.

“I swear Link,” he huffed “Only you could do all that and somehow only end up an hour late”.

‘Oh yeah! I almost forgot to add, I gave a gerudo jewelry some flint and now I get a discount, wanna see the ruby circlet I got?’

\---Meanwhile---

Inside the Gerudo palace, a ruler sat atop her throne. Back straight and regal, looking around her surroundings. She kept expecting citizens to walk in with complaints- issues for her to work out as ruler, but today had been completely silent. 

“It’s… been quiet,” Urbosa remarked.

“It has” her guard agreed.

Finally after a moment of thought, she got up off the throne. “I guess all the problems sorted themselves out then…” Urbosa said. “Organize a team to go rescue Barta immediately,” she said.

“Barta is back, Lady Urbosa. She got back an hour ago”

“Really?” she asked, stunned. “And she’s okay?” at the guard’s nod, Urbosa hummed, thinking.

“I guess…” she paused, “If all problems have been sorted, I’ll be up in my room”. Urbosa got up, shoulders slumping a little as she went up to her bedroom. She felt the stress melting off her in sweet waves. Maybe she could actually spare some time to see princess Zelda for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Zelbosa finally appeared!
> 
> So I am... kinda on the fence about following the age of calamity timeline. On one hand, It goes smoothly with what I have planned. On the other hand- I'm gonna waste a good 5 to 6 chapters just on the age of calamity stuff, which I don't even know if it'll write well. Once again, because of all the changes I'm announcing that the story will currently only be updated on Saturday just until I get enough written out to continued the tuesday/saturday flow. Thank you for your understanding.


	22. Visitor

Teba wasn’t much for tourists. They came, they saw, they asked weird questions, they left. He was pretty much fed up with them after the travelling chef who didn’t know rito couldn’t taste. 

However, he’d noticed a particular face that kept showing up around the village. It’d started with Molli. He’d been up one late night, trying to get his bearings, when he noticed a small pink face staring at him from around the corner expectantly.

He didn’t remember how that particular conversation went, but Molli regaled him with a tale about a white bird that he’d heard several times already, yet listened to anyways. This time though, he was surprised to find the story had an ending. A shrine, and the bird was a mountain. 

Yep, that sounded like old man Rowan.

It was only when he mentioned it to Harth that he got the full story, the day after Molli had gotten back. “She got lost in a snowstorm because I was careless,” he lamented, putting the full blame on himself. “It was only because of that traveler she even learned the end of the story” he said.

Teba’s brow furrowed, “Traveler?” he asked.

Harth half shrugged “Whoever it was, apparently they’ve been up there. To that exact tree and then down to the ridge. I dunno” He sighed, looking at the ground “Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a parent”.

Of course, the topic of the urban legend about the mysterious hylian Molli met was lost in a whirlwind of assurances that Harth wasn’t a bad parent. He asked Molli to do something and she took it the wrong way, no feathers lost on anyone either way. Although Harth had a heart attack when Molli said there were keese up on the mountain that tried to get her. It was like hearing his worst nightmare come true. Then it was the “you’re not a bad parent” argument all over again.

“He’s up there right now” Harth told him, “watching her for a while”.

Teba frowned “Do you trust him?” He asked.

Harth finally cracked a smile “Don't worry, I think if he was going to kidnap her, he would’ve done it in the snowstorm. Besides, he seems like a good fellow”. Teba still had his doubts, but at least Molli got the ending to her story (thank god).

“He really does” Harth insisted “besides, he saved my baby from getting lost in a snowstorm- not to mention monsters. I’d be ungrateful if I didn’t at least consider him a good person”.

And of course, they had ascended to find Molli blabbing her father’s most guarded secret, and once again Teba’s concern on the guy was swept away with the events that happened afterwards.

It wasn’t until a while later, he was talking with his fellow warrior when they mentioned something odd. “Oh, and we don’t need to worry about the frost talus in coldsnap hollow anymore” they said “this traveler came and killed it”.

“Killed it?” Teba questioned “what, just like that?” he asked.

“Yeah” the guy said, “been doing it every blood moon so I guess we don’t have to worry” he said.

Teba still flew over to the area to check, and sure enough- no talus in sight to be found. Coldsnap wasn’t really a place you’d find very many hylians, and no other species found Hebra’s cold to be bearable even with layers upon layers. As Teba went back home he wondered what kind of warrior could easily dispense a frost talus every other month.

Well, maybe Revali. But he couldn’t count the amount of times the arrogant magpie had gotten hit by the one on top of the flight range because Revali flew too high. The number had grown less and less as Revali got faster, but he still hated that thing.

The first time Teba met Link, it was in the kitchen.

Amali had five daughters. She’d been hoping for at least one son to raise, but as she wryly told Teba “Hylia seems to think I’d do better with five daughters”. One of them, Genli, was an absolute brat when hungry. She would stand in the kitchen for hours demanding whatever she was craving from anyone who came to cook since she was still too young.

It really didn’t help her favorite food was salmon meuniere, a stupidly complicated dish to make. Really, Amali was the only one who knew how to make it. Sometimes Teba wished he could go back in time and stop her from ever making it the first time because Genli was like an addict.

Well… she certainly was at least a demanding little kid. Teba wanted his own, just not one as demanding. She was a good kid otherwise, just hangry.

As he walked into the kitchen, he was mildly surprised to see the blonde hylian alongside Genli, patiently waiting for what was over the fire to cook. There was the faint hint of a delicious aroma in the air, strong enough to actually smell. Teba recognized the look of hearty salmon.

Teba came for food, but as he ate and finished his own food he found himself staring at the other two occupants. He watched as the food was fried and salted to perfection, and plated for an eager little rito to have. Genli happily tore into her food with the ferocity of a tiger. The hylian watched with a warm smile on his face. Over an hour of complaining and whining, and the food was gone in less than fifteen minutes. 

It was as the girl ran off, woes forgotten, that Teba made his move.

“So…” Teba said “you’re the one who brought Molli back?”.

The guy’s expression barely changed as he gave Teba a firm confirming nod. He studied the guy for a few seconds before relaxing a little “Thank you” he said. Before the question niggling at the back of his mind finally came out “Are you the one who took care of the frost talus?”.

Another strong firm nod. “Really?” Teba asked, a little surprised. “What would posess a hylian to go that far up the mountain? You don’t look like a shield surfer” he said. They guy crackled a small smile at that.

He brought up his hands, using the language of fingers and wrists to talk. Teba had to wrack his head to remember what each one meant, it’d been a few years. A lot of warriors knew the language, as one could communicate silently without risking alerting something to their presence. 

‘I’m not’ he said ‘at least, not for sport. I live up the mountain’. With that, Link proceeded to point out the window, all the way up at the tallest mountain in hyrule with a polite smile.

“What? No way” Teba said, “It’s freezing up there, how do you even get up and down without turning to ice?” he asked. Hylians had to put layer upon layer just to tolerate the cold, which rito feathers specialized in keeping out.

Link’s smile turned to a full blown grin ‘Don’t worry, I’m sturdier than I look’ he signed.

“No, really! Snowquill helps a lot but living up there? Geez” he remarked. “What’s your name, kid?” Teba asked. He couldn’t have been older than 20.

‘L-I-N-K’ he signed.

It was then he decided that liked this Link guy. Teba started to see him around more, he visited rito every day for the week afterwards, even if just for a few minutes. He at least kept Genli appeased with salmon dishes, and could be found catching it in the small pond at the front of the spiral.

Molli really liked him at least, she talked enough for the both of him. And he was so far the only person who didn’t make smug eyes at him and Harth after being regaled with the 3 parent story (which he was a part of, albeit minor). But after a few days Teba had to admit it almost looked like Link was looking for something.

Either way, nobody minded this new visitor. He was polite, nice, and respectful.

When he saw Revali landing, back from his trip, he figured he should tell the rito that there was another hylian in the village before he did something rude- like taking the fact Link didn’t talk personally. At least a quick heads up.

Teba poked his head inside the roost. “Oh yeah, I forgot to say that-” he stared, words dying as he saw said hylian laying ontop of a very flustered Revali. “Ah, you already met Link. He comes down here almost everyday, are you two friends?” Teba questioned. He didn’t even bother to listen for an answer before turning and leaving.

It was only later that his brain sputtered to a stop after realizing just what he’d seen. Eventually he just settled on not thinking too hard about it, and forgetting what he saw. But Revali approached him in a way that was very awkward for the graceful rito. “Teba… listen…” he cleared his throat “the hylian tackled me” he said.

“O….kay?” Teba asked.

“You saw nothing”, the magpie nodded and went off.

Whatever. The white bellied sea eagle didn’t dwell much on it. Revali was vain and egotistical, whatever happened wasn’t worth pressing into, he didn’t really care.

“Have you seen the basin?” Teba asked Amali, it was missing from it’s spot in the kitchen. She was busy looking through a cookbook, looking for something to make for lunch.

“Revali came in here and took it a while ago” she answered, still flipping through recipes. She was artfully careful to have what she made be something easily attainable. Not wanting a repeat of the salmon incident, although she’d be grateful if Genli fell for an easier dish.

Oh great. Teba huffed to himself, walking all the way up to where Revali lived. No doubt the rito was going to haggle him on why he needed it more. But it wouldn’t hurt to ask, Teba decided. “Hey have you seen- WHAT THE FUCK!” he found himself shouting as he watched Revali attempting to shove the hylian out. the. WINDOW.

They both looked at him, stopping their scuffle. Link was pinned to the boards, one foot hanging over the edge as Teba’s brain finally tried to process that Revali had finally snapped.

“T-this isn’t what it looks like,” Revali finally said. Somehow, Teba doubted that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teba POV!
> 
> I've decided that age of calamity is going to have a role in the plot. This is going to take elements from both age of calamity and breath of the wild but the age of calamity stuff won't start coming in till next year, so if you haven't played/seen age of calamity- gonna be spoilers around January/February. On another note, the one chapter per week thing will only last two more chapters. So on December 11th you'll get your Bi-weekly chapters back. Thanks for the patience.


	23. Nevermind

Some nights are loud, often times before he had a house he would just fall asleep in random places, whenever he felt like it really. Sometimes he’d be woken up being drenched with rain or start getting sunburnt from laying in the sun too long. No matter what he woke up to, it was still a good sleep. Unless he got physically attacked, nothing would make him wake up.

Some nights are quiet, it’s easy to fall asleep. He gets tired and at the end of a long day is practically sucked into the bed. The moment he closes his eyes during starlight can’t be told from the moment he opens them at dawn. Many have chided him for being able to sleep through an earthquake. But some nights it couldn’t be farther than the truth.

Some nights are harder, he lays there, tossing and turning and not able to fall asleep no matter how much he tries to let his mind drift. He gets bored, frustrated, for hours until he finally just gets up and goes to do something to take his mind off of it. Those nights still turn into something productive, and eventually he wears himself out to sleep.

But some nights… after sleep does eventually come, he’s trapped. There’s darkness all around, and things staring at him in the foggy black scenes around him. Sometimes it’s a pair of round orange eyes, waiting for the moon to crash into the earth. Sometimes it’s a black and white face with a long neck, a helmet like a crustacean, it’s neck making weird crackling noises. 

Sometimes it’s himself, his own reflection staring at him with glowing red eyes. Like staring into a mirror that wants to kill everything and anything he’s ever loved just because he loves it.

And they all call out his name. “Link” says the man with purple hair and a long cape. “Link” chantes the giant blue boar with tusks the size of his arm. “Link” purrs the one in white, covered head to toe in diamonds. 

“LINK!” 

Something touches his shoulder, and he gasps, flailing as he vaults out of bed and is halfway across the room with a sword in his hands before he even remembers where he is.

There’s Revali, with a rather surprised look on his face. He holds his hands up in surrender from where they were held above the bed, shaking the thrashing hylian awake. Link blinked, he… wasn’t fighting. This was his house, his room, his space. Nobody in sight but Revali.

As if approaching a frightened animal, Revali stepped forward “Are you… alright?” the rito asked, eyes wide with surprise. Link finally registered what he was doing. One foot was on the wall, halfway to prying the great iceblade off it’s mount. He had to force himself to let go of the handle. I’m fine, he wanted to sign, but his hands were still locked, and shaking too much to sign. 

A nightmare… it had been a nightmare. Nothing but a dream, and one he’d had before. Link groaned, putting his hands in his heads. He hadn’t had one for months, he thought they were finally gone.

Slowly, the rito took his shoulder, guiding him from where he was rooted in place across the room. Link shuffled back over to the bed where he nearly fell on it. He was sweating, but there were shivers racing up and down his spine. His eyes darted around frantically, from the door to the window to the fireplace, all areas of entrance.

“Hey,” Revali said, surprising Link, he almost forgot the other was there. “Relax, you’re fine” the rito said, attempting his best at comfort.

He tried to force himself to relax, but his body just wouldn’t. His hands were gripping his arms, attempting to ground himself by clawing at his own skin. There were shadows grasping at his arms, he tried to peel them away. “Stop that,” Revali said, prying Link’s fingers up with his much larger ones.

His hands are clenched tightly, trying to do damage, but Revali wraps his fingers in between each one. The feathers are a bit abused, but eventually Link begins to stop fighting. He slumps, tired and realizing just how stupid it all was.

Reluctantly he let go of Revali’s hands, they finally stopped trying to dig into his palms. Now, instead of being rock steady and clenched, they’re shaking, no matter how hard he tries to keep them still.

He hated this, this demented fight or flight mode. Every muscle in his body was screaming at him that something was about to attack, to grab weapons, to run, to fight back or go down trying. Too many could just teleport into existence, step out of the shadows at any moment to catch him here, defenseless.

Why was he even still afraid? He knew his demons well, he’d battled them, fought them in the heat of battle and defeated every last one. He shouldn’t be scared, he was victorious.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Right, Revali was here. His face was hot and wet, with tears silently dripping down. He didn’t even feel sad, they were just there- blurring his vision and making it hard to breathe. Still, he nodded, jerking his head up and down the best he could.

“...do you want to… tell me?” the rito asked awkwardly. It was hard for him, he’d never been in this situation before.

He could tell him. He could tell him… and then what? Have his only sanctuary think him crazy? To spend so much time reciting things straight out of fairytales only to have the rito awkwardly laugh? Revali already thought he was weird enough, he didn’t need delusional added to the list of things he already knew. Even if he did believe, he wouldn’t understand. Wouldn’t understand… and that would ruin their relationship. He couldn’t tell him.

But… he couldn’t just not give an answer, he didn’t want to look distrusting. He trusted Revali, with a lot. But he wasn’t sure he was ready to tell him this. Not because Revali wasn’t trustworthy, he was more than that, but because he didn’t want to lose his only friend. In the back of his mind he could feel his breathing get worse.

Decisions weighed in his mind, tilting back and forth from one argument to another. He had to answer, time was running out. Shakily, Link brought his hands up to try and sign.

“Nevermind” 

Link looks at him through tear filled eyes. “It doesn’t matter” Revali says, “just… come here” he grabs Link by the shoulders. Big, warm, soft hands pulling him close to press against his body as Link sniffles.

After a hesitant minute, fingers start pressing through his hair in a comfortable familiar motion. Scraping gently and softly, making themselves a soft but secure presence. Slowly, his wound up muscles begin to relax. His tears don’t slow, still slowly dripping down his face in big crocodile sized drops, but his breathing has calmed and he's grounded to the person hugging him. Slowly, they begin to rock back and forth, swaying side to side in a comforting manner.

“You don’t have to tell me” Revali says “I don’t really care” he closed his eyes. “Just stop trying to tear at yourself, that was terrifying”.

Amazingly, from out of Link’s throat comes an old, dusty sound. Like a broken gear trying to turn again after years of no use. A purr, it’d been so long that the rumble startles him. It cuts off a bit, but returns, with the force of an engine.

Link lets himself sink into the warm comfort, happy to be receiving it. Revali doesn’t move, or gumble, or gripe, or complain. He just sits there, letting the other bask in his presence.

They stay there, long until after Link has felt better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rocking from side to side thing is what my mother does for me. It’s very calming.
> 
> Only one more chapter to go before you guys get the double chaptering back! This timing actually worked out very well, because while I’m back to writing a bunch and have finished most of next month’s chapters, I currently have a student choice project that is taking up the majority of my productivity. It would’ve been an easy project, but I (like a dumb) didn’t realize we only had two weeks to work on it instead of three so I picked a hard one.


	24. Lights

This was exactly why Link liked the mountain.

Don’t get him wrong, the snowy cold was a pain sometimes. But he was more than willing to put up with it. The lack of people was a huge bonus, but mostly it was the little things all around him. 

The crunch of snow beneath his boots calmed him, alongside the cold crisp air that reddened his cheeks. There were nothing but gentle giants up here on the mountain- moose, rhinos, and occasionally a fox. Not to mention it was beautiful. Every angle he looked down the mountain was a view.

Down the mountain… it made him think of shield surfing, Link didn’t really consider it a hobby, but he’d be lying if it wasn’t fun. One of the reasons he decided to move here. The woman (ex shield surfing champion) saw how much he raced down the mountain and offered him the house for 3000. She wanted to get away from her past hobbies for good.

He couldn’t deny all the days he’d spent teleporting to the shrine over and over again just to shield surf back down endlessly. It was so easy to get lost in the flurry of white scenery. 

Revali didn’t seem to think so.

“Could you be any slower?” The rito complained “I’ve been waiting up here for years!” he said as he made no effort to help Link climb up. In the meantime he stared at the fading sunset.

‘You can fly’ Link sassily remarked as he finally got up to the top. Right behind Revali was the great big tree from Molli’s story, one that was perfect for a night like this. Link tossed the basket over the ledge, jumping up with a bright grin.

He thought for sure Revali would decline, but no. Surprisingly the rito agreed first time asked. Of course he griped, but Link wouldn’t expect anything otherwise. “Well you’re the one who wanted to climb” he scoffed “I think I have the right to complain about my companion taking the slow route on purpose”.

‘It’s necessary’ Link insisted even as Revali rolled his eyes, ‘I’m serious! The climb is part of the experience, at least for me. I like it’.

“Of course you do,” Revali said, watching as Link pulled a thick plush blanket from the basket. “You live on a mountain,” he huffed. The blanket was waterproof, like the ones in Zora’s domain. They weren’t too warm, but they were thick and kept the snow at bay. Link laid it down on the ground beneath the tree, he sat down and patted the spot next to him.

“You brought me all the way up here for a picnic?” Revali huffed. “I thought you were just trying to kill me with the cold air and night”. Nighttime wasn’t safe, everyone knew that. Being out alone in the Hebra mountains at night was just asking for trouble, which is why Revali had honestly never been up here at night. 

Revali couldn’t feel anything through his feathers, but the nipping cold air had completely turned Link’s face red. There was a firm blush painted on his cheeks and nose, and a more noticeable fog to his breath. Not that Revali was looking or anything, it was just too annoying to ignore.

Eventually, grudgingly, Revali took a seat next to Link. His disappointed frown eased up a little as he was offered a wildberry from the basket. It was still cold, and fresh. The texture was irresistible, squishy and full of sweet juice.

“...so did you actually want to show me something, or was this an excuse to just to try and hog all my time?” the magpie asked. Link grinned at him.

‘Just wait for it’ the hylian said.

“Wait for what? There’s no actual white bird, you know that right?” Revali asked, he’d figured Link knew it was a story but had to double check.

Link nodded, signing again for Revali to wait. “That slate said it was all clear right? There’s not gonna be a snowstorm?” Revali questioned. If a snow flurry happened right now, he’d never be able to get back to rito. 

All light from the sky had faded, dusk was over and now it was officially night. Dark blue turned to pure black, barely enough light to see anything other than the shadowy figure of the rito next to him. Stars were beginning to pop up over the horizon.

“What’s the point of this?” Revali sighed impatiently, “What are we even waiting for? Even I don’t see anything, the view of the stars is always like this in Hebra” He said. Not that he didn’t like the stars, but he’d seen more than a fair amount of stars at the flight range. It was always breathtaking, but if Link dragged him all the way out here this late at night, he was going to hit the hylian off the mountain.

‘Just wait, it’ll be a little bit’ Link insisted yet again.

“Fine…” the rito couldn’t stand the silence in the dark though, it was barely a few minutes before he was starting up chatter again. “Why did you move up here?”.

Link looked at Revali confused, ‘I thought you knew?’ he asked, confused.

“I know you wanted to get away from people, but I want to know MORE, why Hebra when there’s a giant world out there? Don’t get full of yourself, but you’ve easily got enough skill with cooking and a sword to… I don’t know- learn the world’s recipes? Travel?” The argument fell apart, Revali really just wanted to know more.

Link was quiet, just looking at Revali. “Be honest Link,” he said “Did you come to Hebra to escape something?” he asked. Link held up a hand, silencing Revali as he thought for a moment.

‘I guess…’ Link’s eyebrows furrowed with concentration ‘I’m… well, as corny as it sounds, I’m waiting’.

“Waiting?” Revali repeated, it better be an actual explanation and not just him stating what they were doing right now.

‘Yeah’ Link said ‘I did travel at first, all over in fact’ he said. ‘But now I’ve settled, I’m comfortable in what I’m doing’.

“...What do you mean by settled?” Revali wondered.

‘Well’ Link’s hands stopped to pick up and eat another wildberry. ‘I don’t really have any profound purpose or goal I’m moving towards. I’m sort of just waiting for an opportunity to present itself’ he explained. ‘I don’t really see the need in pressuring myself to be better if I’m comfortable’.

It was insane, Revali thought, but it made sense. Link didn’t do “perfect”, he did “if it works, don’t touch it” which honestly summed up his entire character. Revali couldn’t be satisfied with ‘comfortable’, he had to be best. 

“Is that why you never take my advice in organizational skills?’ Revali drawled, thinking of the numerous things just sprawled around Link’s house lazily. 

Link cracked a smile, ‘maybe’ he signed.

“Why not improve?” Revali asked, “What’s the point in learning something and just being decent at it?”. It sounded silly as he said it outloud.

The tiny hylian raised an eyebrow ‘wouldn’t you know? You’re perfect’ he teased. 

Revali tried to scoff, but ended up smiling instead. “I know, I am, I…” his voice died as he finally realized something. He could see Link grinning, as in actual light. There were colorful lights waving and dancing across his face.

Link seemed to realize the same thing as him, he turned his smile to the sky, which was alight with color. Playful hues swayed back and forth across the stars, lighting up the normally empty blackness a deep blue. Pink, Yellow, green, blue, and so many purples put on a show, mixing and blending together as they put on a show.

Oh. He’d never seen THIS at the flight range.

Revali stared, mesmerized at the aurora borealis that made an ocean of color across the black canvas that was the night sky. It was as if Hylia spilled a rainbow and the cold colors overtook the warm ones, leaving them to highlight. They raced and whipped around like fire, as thin as steam. A beautiful display of the sky at it’s finest.

“Yeah” he said breathlessly “I guess this was worth it”.

He only barely noticed the heavy weight of the hylian sinking into them. When he finally did, he said nothing, simply leaning his neck on top of the offered head of hair, as they watched the aurora together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost wrote “A beautiful display of beauty” smh 10/10 writer.
> 
> Sorry for late upload, I usually upload midnight my time but was too tired and decided "eh, screw it". I'm currently in another state spending time with family and between that and my last school project for the year this story just hasn't been on my mind. On another note, I'm considering starting and posting a sidlink story. It would be based off Cinderella (overdone I know) wouldn't be done for a good few months, but I just wanna know if people would read it if I did write it before I start.


	25. Denial (Eros pt 1)

“Explain it to me again?” Revali asked, looking at Teba. He was starting to understand, but wanted to understand to make fun of it properly.

“Saiki and I are dating” he started slowly “Harth and I are dating. I am dating Saiki and Harth, but her and Harth aren’t dating. It is not cheating, she consented to me having another partner”.

Hm, a little weird but easy enough to follow. “Right” Revali said “And you say that you knew that Harth liked you?” He poured skepticism into his every word. “Yet you only found out after becoming Saiki’s partner?” Revali questioned. 

“Yes,” Teba answered. 

Today was a nice one, clear weather, light wind, perfect for practice sparring. Aerial combat needed to be practiced in all conditions, but it was nice to have an easier break every once in a while. They were taking a break right now to eat, but Revali was more interested in cornering Teba for information than tea. (Hylia knows Teba needed it though, his voice was already like crunched rock).

“Alright” Revali leaned back, satisfied. “As long as you don’t try to pull me into your crazy love schemes, you can seduce the entire village for all I care”. Revali doubted Teba would try, and even if he did- Revali already had a whole arsenal of jabs directed at the fact he had two partners. Speaking of which…

“So, wasn’t just satisfied with one, hm? I used to say you didn’t know anything about romance, but who knows- with one on each arm you might just out-do me in terms of charm” Revali said, the words rolled off his tongue with a special type of arrogant sweetness that only he could manage.

Teba looked at him, unimpressed with his jab but the corner of his mouth was twitching. The white rito was unsure if he should take it as a compliment or insult, nobody ever knew with Revali. From what he knew of Revali’s mother and brother, it was a family trait. “Oh? And what do you know of romance, I’ve never seen you with anyone” Teba said. 

Revali huffed, “I have much too high standards. Unless I meet someone who can match me in greatness, I can’t settle down, a riot would break out otherwise if all the lesser people started breaking my door down”.

The white rito was a master at giving people unimpressed looks, but Revali was completely unaffected. Teba sat for a moment, taking a sip of tea now that it was finally cool enough. 

“Teba?”

He looked up, Revali was inspecting the tips of the arrows they had, pretending to be uninterested. “...how did you know you liked Harth? I thought you two were just friends” he asked, curious.

Teba thought for a second, considering pointing out that he thought Revali didn’t care. He decided against it, that’d just make him clam up even more. “Well, I guess I just had to start thinking more about our relationship, the thought crossed my mind one day, what if I dated Harth, and it just… didn’t go away”.

Revali raised an eyebrow “What, you just decided you like him?” He asked. 

“No” Teba snorted, “Let me finish,” he said. (That’s what she said. Couldn’t fucking resist.)

The taller rito took a deep breath, before starting. “Once the thought was in my head, I started thinking more about it. Does he make me happy? Do I enjoy his presence? Do I know him well? Would I be willing to spend a lot of close proximity with him constantly? Would I mind showing affection to him? Do we work well together?” Teba sighed “Would I be okay with… being intimate with them…” he trailed off, whispering the last part quietly.

“So… you based your relationship on a questionnaire?” Revali asked. 

“LOOK” Teba snapped, grumbling a bit, “Think of the person you like spending time with the most, and ask yourself those questions. What about that hylian guy, Link? The one who plays with Molli a lot?” He asked. Teba guessed they had to be friends if Link could take an attempt at being thrown out the window as a joke.

“Link” Revali scoffed, “You must be plucked if you think he and I are anything” Revali rolled his eyes.

“Just do it,” Teba said exasperatedly. “Answer the questions. Starting off, does he make you happy?”.

He makes me crazy, Revali thought to himself, always had to be so fucking noble, and so non-chalant about it all. Link could become the hero of hyrule and say it was all in a day’s work. But of course the answer was yes, Link didn’t have any complaints about Revali and always seemed to listen diligently, remembering things he’d mentioned only once or twice.  
“I suppose” Revali said “He clearly appreciates me enough to be worthy of my presence, it’s nice to have someone who is so open with their worship of me”. A little too open, it threw Revali off sometimes, but he still liked it.

“Do you enjoy his presence?” 

“Yes” It was comforting, just to exist near Link as he ranted away all of his complaints. Then once he was done with those he just talked about what was on his mind. He was almost certain that Link had heard enough about wind conditions, arrow types, bomb arrow materials, bow comparisons, long range vs short range combat, and archery over all. But once again, the hylian just HAD to prove him wrong. “He’s not completely incompitant,” he settled on.

Quite opposite actually, while Link made pretty bad decisions, he was surprisingly knowledgeable. Having been almost everywhere in Hyrule except for the castle (too many people, the rito was told). Not to mention he was pretty much a jack of all trades when it came to combat. (It made Revali puff with pride that archery was his only weaker point). 

“Do you know him well?” Teba asked, he picked up his bow, starting to fiddle with it. 

Not as well as I’d like, he thought to himself. “Moderately well, I know he’s not an axe murderer”. Arsonist was a completely different story though, he hadn’t even known fire could shoot that far until Link got a meteor rod. 

“Would you be willing to spend a lot of close proximity with him? Constantly?” Teba asked. 

Close proximity… that wouldn’t be too bad. Link was small, he didn’t take up a lot of space, and while he wasn’t as groomed as the rito would like, he was very strict on chore upkeep. There were always logs on the fire and food on the table with him around. He didn’t get in the way either. “He’s not the worst option” Revali said “I at least know he’s responsible”.

“Do you work well together?” 

Finally, an easy one. “I suppose so”, Link was proficient in combat areas that Revali wasn’t, and the same for the opposite. 

“Would you mind showing affection to him?” Teba asked, monotonically stating the question as he focused on his bow. A small chip in the woodwork had all his attention.

“What do you mean, like…” Revali grimaced, affection was a touchy subject.

“You know” Teba said “Hugging, kissing, holding them close?” 

Hugging, well that wouldn’t be so bad. Revali was tall enough compared to Link he could probably just rest his chin on Link’s soft hair. Not to mention the times Link practically attacked him in a hug were… tolerable (wonderful).

Kissing… hm. Hylians kissed with their mouths (gross). But he guessed he wouldn’t mind if Link did it, as long as it wasn’t slobbery. He wouldn’t stand for that. If Link would be okay with it, Revali would too.

Holding him close would be an issue. Revali didn’t exactly know where to put his hands in an embrace, he wouldn’t know a thing of it. It wasn’t exactly like he’d been embraced in the last few years. 

“I guess yes to all three,” Revali said. 

Teba suddenly looked up from where he was fussing over the tiny chink, eyebrows high and eyes wide with surprise, his mouth hung open a little. “Really???” he asked, completely taken off guard.

“Yes, why is that so hard to grasp?” Revali said flatly.

Teba seemed to think to himself for a moment, turning to surprised but calculating. “What exactly do you feel when you look at Link?” he asked.

“Wh-”

“Just humor me” Teba quickly cut Revali off.

Now it was the other rito’s turn to think hard about that statement. “He makes me sick to my stomach,” Revali stated “My chest feels light and my stomach feels like there are lizards trying to escape. Not to mention if I try to talk it gets worse and my tongue feels heavy”.  
Revali found himself continuing to talk, venting turning into ranting “Not to mention I always end up talking to him for hours upon hours, it wastes all my time. And I hate it when he has to leave because I never know what he’s doing until he’s back. He’s so reckless it gives me a heart attack. Once he showed up with a bruise on his cheek and told me he just fought a black hinox and tripped! How unbelievable is that? He can fight a hinox, but a trip is what ends up being his downfall? What am I going to do if he ends up tripping over a cliff?!”

“Mhmm”

“I wish he would just tell me when he’s planning to do something reckless. Everytime I go with him, Link does mundane stuff but I turn my back for two seconds and he suddenly has fought every single monster in Hebra” Revali scoffed.  
“Not to mention he insists on doing so many things for other people, WITHOUT REWARD. He made that stupidly complicated salmon dish for one of the kids just because she didn’t want to go to singing practice on an empty stomach. I mean, I won’t deny he isn’t good at cooking but.. Why? Why does someone have to be so noble, I can understand doing something nice every once in a while. But is just GIVING away 110 bundles of wood to someone so they can build a town and getting nothing worth it? I don’t understand it” Revali ranted, getting more and more frustrated.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love him and all that, but why does he have to be a nice person just because? Those people are annoying goody two shoes, but he’s… not, somehow” the rito deflated. 

“Love him?” Teba asked.

The two rito locked eyes with equally shocked expressions before they quickly morphed into both smugness and dread. “Oh, so, you admit that the questions work?” Teba smirked “I knew you liked him. I’ve never seen anyone else in your roost without being chased out” he said, a little cheekily.

Revali just sat in silence, frozen where he sat. Love? LOVE?? No, this couldn’t be it. It was a mushy heap of something he didn’t know what to do with in his chest. It was… weird. He was pretty sure it glowed sometimes. It was like… some sort of softness that flared up whenever Link was around. He knew he’d messed up when Teba grinned even wider at his lack of response. He quickly collected his cool. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Just because I don’t like you in my roost doesn’t mean I don’t invite people” he grimaced, the last thing he wanted were people thinking they could invite themselves in.

“Aaaaand the mushy feelings? They’re called love, you get tongue twisted and butterflies in your stomach whenever you see him”. Teba was giving him a knowing look, the little shit he was.

“No, that doesn’t mean anything except I’m allergic to him,” Revali stated. “He’s like a bad cold, pops up at the worst times, doesn’t go away, sticks to me like a parasite-”

“Gets you in bed?” Teba snarkily said. 

“NO!” Revali didn’t shriek, he didn’t. His voice just went higher because Teba was being completely inappropriate. He was clearly enjoying finally having something to poke fun at.

“I think he’d be good for you” Teba said “You’re always so much better to talk too after talking to him” the white rito said. “Not to mention with how much you leave to see him, we all already assumed you were seeing him. He might as well just move in”.

“He’s a good training partner and he is not MOVING IN” Revali spat, getting up from his spot on the floor. How dare Teba even suggest it.

“Are you sure? He comes to rito at least 3 times a week, he’s coming tomorrow morning isn’t he?” Teba asked. 

“NO HE IS NOT!” he was, but Revali was gonna be long gone by that time. Link couldn’t fly after all. 

The rito made a show of gracefully taking off from the flight range. But not fast enough to miss Teba’s call of “IF IT HELPS, I APPROVE!!” behind him.

“YOU APPROVE OF NOTHING!!!”

He didn’t need approval of ANYTHING because he did not like LINK.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally we’re getting somewhere! Slowly but surely. I said I was gonna take a few weeks with slow updates so I could work on chapters, but honestly being with family took up all my time so Imma have to start getting back on that. 
> 
> Not to mention back to the double chapters! Mainly because there’s a certain chapter that has to come out on Christmas.
> 
> On another note, I took the advice given to me about the sidlink idea, and reworked it. So here’s the finalized offer: Cinderella in breath of the wild, no humanization or modern au, Sidon is still sweet shark boi that pines, Zelda gets drunk, and Link turns into a zora. Yay or nay? Lemme know what you think in the comments.


	26. Anger (Eros pt 2)

Currently, there was nobody on the planet Revali hated more than Teba. He’d say it was Link, but that argument was weak and fell apart after a few hours of thinking. So he just settled for Teba.

How dare he? Once the seed of the idea had been planted, it wrapped it’s thorny vines around Revali’s head, blooming horrible thoughts. (Or wonderful ones?). It seemed he couldn’t even look at anything without considering the little hylian. The stupid, small, maybe pretty hylian that lived high on the mountain.

While getting dressed, he considered switching his brown scarf for another one. A green one to be specific, he didn’t even LIKE GREEN. Green was a terrible color, the color of… of... terrible things! Yes. Like Teba, if he dyed Teba green then maybe that would make his mind stop churning out these terrible stupid thoughts. 

At breakfast, he considered how much better it’d be to actually eat with someone. He actually thought about flying up to Link’s house just to have some of whatever he made. FLYING ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. Just for what? The company of one person?

Not to mention Link didn’t even get up at this hour, so he’d still be half asleep and sleepily wandering around with half closed eyes and adorably tousled hair-

Revali groaned, slamming his head back into the rock he’d been slumped against for the better part of half an hour. It was thoughts like these that were slowly ruining him. Yes, okay, fine, he was in love with Link. Well, maybe not love, it was a mushy mess of things in his chest he didn't know what to do with. He mostly just settled for blaming Teba. He could’ve lived the rest of his life without knowing this. He was SO MAD at Teba. 

But also, he was mad at himself. 

A hylian? Couldn’t he at least gone for a rito? Maybe then he wouldn’t be the talk of all the gossip of Hebra. No, he decided. It didn’t matter because nothing was going to change.

“Are you okay?” Teba asked as he flew to land next to the blue rito, mildly concerned for how Revali just sorta… was flung over the rock. There was snow starting to pile on top of him, slowly turning his blue coat into a white one.

Revali fucking snapped.

He hopped up quicker than a frog. “NO I AM NOT TEBA!” he shouted, “And do you know why? Because somebody had to go and ruin my life!” Revali whirled on him. “You’re the worst person. Watch your back, you’ll be green soon”.

“Green?” Teba asked, confused “Ruining your life?”

“YES!” Revali yelled. “Molli has two parents, she can spare the third” he said darkly.

Teba stared, not quite sure how to respond and considering making a run (or fly) for it. “...is this about yesterday?” he asked. He knew it was, but wanted to confirm just in case there was some other atrocity he committed against Revali that was recently discovered.

“No, it’s about the fact that you’re white instead of green. YES IT’S ABOUT THAT” Revali was puffed with anger. “I’m going to pluck you feather by feather, and drown you in the hot spring until you’re simmered roast” he threatened. He had confidence he could haul Teba up the mountain kicking and screaming before Saki or Harth realized he was gone. It’d take maybe an hour or two, longer if Teba struggled.

“Yes but why me? I thought you hated Link?” Teba asked, eyes wide with confused surprise.

“No, I’m blaming you because if it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be feeling things” the rito tried to convey said feelings by strangling the air in front of him. “I feel soft, and squishy, I hate it and I hate you”.

“...Clearly,” Teba commented, not really sure how to handle this conversation.

“You put these thoughts in my head, make them go away” Revali demanded. 

Teba gave Revali an amazingly confused ‘what the fuck?’ look, “I… can’t?” he offered. This was a situation he’d never even imagined he’d be in. Revali and romance didn’t go together, unless it was self love. He never seemed to be short of that.

“You did this, undo it now” Revali said. He took a deep breath, “Listen, I apologize for teasing you for having two partners but that’s no reason to subject me to this- this-” he struggled to find the right words.

“THIS-” he couldn’t even describe it. It was like hell, but in the best possible way. A burning paradise. Like a beautiful lotus flower, but on fire and screaming as it spiraled into the depths of a frog’s stomach.

“This?” Teba asked, he wasn’t making anything easier. Revali focused on the rock again, they were above the flight range. He’d flown up here in an attempt to distract himself, but as aerodynamic as he was, he couldn’t outfly his own thoughts.

“I hate you” he repeated “I was up all night thinking about him, I hope you’re happy. You were right, there, I fucking said it. Now how do I hate someone?” Revali asked.

“...Why?” Teba asked, raising an eyebrow “I thought that was your specialty? You hate everyone” he stated.

Once upon a time, that statement had been truer than true. Revali buried his head into the snow, hoping he could freeze the thoughts away. “Not him, and I hate it” he moaned, muffled by the snow. Death by asphyxiation was looking pretty good right now. No more thinking, no more Teba. Honestly it would be great.

Teba huffed, “I’m not understanding what the issue is here. Do you love Link or not?” he asked.

“Yes” Revali answered. That one answer was so… overwhelming. He was supposed to be a lone shining star, too amazing to have an equal or deal with trivial things like love. Having a thousand admirers yet not liking a single one back. Maybe indulging a few just to watch his adoring fans freak out and a scandal to happen. That was the fantasy, but not… him.

However, as he looked at the image of the crowds chanting his names, there was another face added to the scene. A little, blonde hylian, face flushed and grinning widely, gripping his arm excitedly as if he were afraid he’d be dragged off by hundreds of single admirers the second he let go.

Revali groaned, shoving his head further into the snow. He was an idiot, he needed a brain check, or a good smack to the head. 

He lifted his head out of the snow abruptly, looking tiredly at Teba, who jumped away from where he was hovering. “Hit me” Revali said in the most dry, tired, deadpan voice he could manage. 

“What? Why? No” Teba said, asking and answering at the same time.

“I hate you”

“I’ve gathered that”

“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll kill you”.

“Sure, Revali” Teba said, mouth twitching at the corners. God was this really who Revali had turned into? That little hylian was ruining his life, he was becoming a mess. Like a rushroom addiction. First he tried to hide it, and now that he’s admitting it he just looks desperate and pathetic.

No, he wasn’t that. He wouldn’t be, he couldn’t.

“You think I’m kidding?” Revali suddenly gained his gusto back. “I’ll take you right here and now, nobody will ever find the body!”.

Teba put his hands up, cautiously eyeing Revali. The blue rito could be a little unpredictable to begin with, but this was practically an emotional freak out. “Just… calm down a bit” he said, trying not to move too suddenly lest Revali suddenly decide nobody would find his body up in the depths of Hebra’s secret hot springs.

The white rito finally remembered what he was here for. “Oh, by the way” he casually said “Link is here, he’s asking for you”. 

“WHAT, why didn’t you tell me?!” The other couldn’t give an answer as the rito angrily flew off too fast to answer, leaving naught but a few dark feathers in the snow. Teba sighed, he needed a good brain freeze himself, something else to focus on.

Yes, green was certainly a good color for Teba. And after that, he was going to suffocate someone with a pillow. Either Teba or himself, he’d decide after Link left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ONE FINAL QUESTION before I start working on putting the Sidlink story plan into action. Do we want nonbinary Link? I thought of a joke where the zora can’t tell if Link’s a boy or a girl and then started thinking… How would you all like that?


	27. Depressed Denial (Eros pt 3)

Teba was expecting an assassination after Link left.

His feathers were on edge, turning every corner slow enough to be able to jump back just in case there was an arrow in between the eyes ready. 

But after not seeing Revali anywhere for a full day, he figured he might just embrace whatever was being plotted against him. (Revali had said he was going to be turned green, right?).

The white rito was genuinely surprised to find Revali in his roost, the very last place he expected the workaholic to be. He wasn’t home except for sleep or if there was a snowstorm, always a whirlwind of either training or doing some other task. Teba almost hadn’t bothered.

He slowly leaned his head in the roost, making sure not to step in- lest he get shot. But no, it was quiet. For a second he almost thought nobody was home. But unless there was someone else with navy feathers currently swaddled up to their ears in Revali’s hammock without being killed, that was Revali.

“Uh…” Teba didn’t know what to say. “...Are you alright? It’s noon” he settled on.

There was no response, only a low irritated growl from the other bird. Teba ignored it, walking over. “You’re not injured are you?” he questioned.

“I hate you” was the moody response he got back.

It was times like these when Teba remembered that Revali was technically still a teenager. The very youngest of his generation, there was an almost 4 year age gap between him and every other rito. Teba stared at him, unimpressed.

He looked around, never actually being in Revali’s roost before. The blue rito tended to get huffy whenever people invaded his space, telling them that he didn’t invade theirs so they shouldn’t “Just barge in as if they were invited”. So Teba took the opportunity to look over everything, too curious for his own good. Scanning over the walls, the white rito found himself doing a double take.

“Wait… is that a beetle?” Teba asked, there on the shelf was a jar with a stick in it, a gold beetle happily trotting about inside, parading all over it’s stick and leaf.

“Link’s gonna be gone for the week, I’m making sure the dreaded thing doesn’t expire” Revali groaned, muffled from being face down. “He’s gonna release it but we keep forgetting”.

“...uh huh” Teba said, looking at it. An electric rhino beetle, certainly not native to Hebra. But his attention turned back to the rito. “Are you okay? You’re not ill are you?” Teba asked, wanting to make sure Revali wasn’t in pain and hiding it.

Revali sighed, finally shifting to look up at the ceiling. “No,” he admitted. After Link had left, his thoughts simply turned to… depression. He’d realized his feelings, and now there wasn’t anything he could do about it. 

This morning it had finally sunk in. He liked- no, loved Link. “I...love Link” was all Revali managed to get out. 

“Good for you buddy” Teba said, still slightly concerned. “How are you holding up?”

“I love Link”

“...yes, we established that”

“I LOVE Link” 

“...are you okay? Like really okay?”

Revali simply turned to stare at Teba, seemingly looking through him. Any other time the white rito would’ve chuckled seeing the great Revali looking so lost, but… this was actually a bit concerning considering what happened yesterday. 

The blue rito on the other hand, was having a revelation. Yesterday it had simply been a statement, he realized he loved Link and mulled over it. Now it was actually sinking in. He actually… cared for someone that wasn’t one of his kin.

For the longest time, Revali didn’t like hylians. They were just… too much. Too annoying, too stupid, too argumentitive, and too damn over the top. There was a hylian holiday every other week, and they used them all as excuses to get drunk. They settled all over the place and were really loud. He always found himself thinking that there were too many of them, thankfully Hebra was the one place they didn’t like settling. No hylian could stand the cold for more than a week it seemed.

Except… for the small blonde boy who wielded weapons too big, loved food, and hated time wasters. The only one who listened instead of talked. Who preferred blue over red but personally liked green the best. At first Revali was annoyed, annoyed that the hylians were settling and going to ruin the picture perfect mountains with all their square houses. 

And then… that annoyance turned into curiosity, and that curiosity to intrigue, and that intrigue to friendship, and that friendship to...

Love.

He was in love.

Revali suddenly blinked back to life, becoming aware of a white hand waving itself back and forth in front of his face frantically.

It had the gall to press itself to his temple. “No fever…” Teba muttered to himself.

“I’m not sick!” Revali screeched, batting the hand away as it insistantly tried to check for signs of illness. “You’re crazy!” he hissed.

Teba held his hands up, backing off a little for now. It was clear that this situation needed to be handled carefully, lest Revali lose his shit and finally fly off the handle at Teba. (He had a boyfriend, girlfriend, and child, he couldn’t risk it).

“Teba I don’t think you understand. I’m in LOVE, and I can’t get rid of it!” He exclaimed, making erratic hand motions.

“Yeah, but this is a good thing!” Teba said “We’ve all been there, don’t get defensive just because it’s your first crush”. Though the phrase niggled at the back of the rito’s mind, he didn’t think he should tell Revali the phrase ‘First crush, Worst crush’ at a time like this.

“Crush?!” The rito squawked (HE DID NOT SQUEAK) at the implication that he, an unmatched rito warrior would do things like drool over a person like a teenage girl, sitting in their hammock fawning over their every interaction and constantly thinking of things like running his hands through Link’s hair…

Crush. It was a fucking crush. This is ACTUALLY what Revali’s life had come to. Worst of all, Teba was there to witness all of it. And with Teba came Saki and Harth who would tell Kaneli and Amali, meaning Kass, all five of their daughters, and fyson and-

“Hey, hey” Teba patted his shoulder lightly, “We’ve all been there. It’s a natural thing to be scared of love”.

“S-scared?” Revali tried for a dismissive huff but it just came out as a flustered wheeze “I’m not scared! Why would I be scared of such a trivial thing as… affection…”. He trailed off awkwardly, realizing full just what love entailed. 

Love. Affection. Hugs. Kisses. Holding someone while they slept. The touches that Link and Revali had shared were nothing more than platonic, but the idea of them being more was both scary and thrilling. “It’s just…” Revali desperately grabbed for an excuse. “I can’t”.

“You can’t what?”

“I can’t love Link,” he stated. 

“Why?” Teba asked, genuinely baffled with how much Revali could possibly blow this out of proportion. The other rito was dramatic, but not this dramatic.

“Because” there was a long, awkward silence that floated after that single word “... He’s hylian”. The rito said, “It’d never work”.

“What? No, Yes it could. What about him being a hylian is stopping you?” Teba asked, attempting to see Revali’s logic. Sure Link couldn’t fly, but it wasn’t like Revali was incapable of landing. Even with their ability to fly, rito still spent the majority of their time on the ground. 

Teba knew Revali was just grasping at straws as the rito was once again unable to give him an answer. He wanted to level the magpie with a glare, because his concern was slowly leveling out into annoyance.

When Revali couldn’t give Teba an answer, he just went back to glaring. Normally Teba might glare back or roll his eyes, but honestly this glare was more… funny than anything. Like a kitten unhappy with being given a bath.

“I CAN’T love Link” he settled back on.

Link was lovely, yes. But this wasn’t some fairy tale, Link was hylian, Revali was rito. Hylia forbid he could already hear his mother’s screaming about being a disgrace to the family and how she always knew he was a freak.

No no, he told himself. She’s never said that, don’t make up reasons to hate her. He couldn’t hate family, they were his family for Naydra’s sake!

“WHY” Teba yelled “MUST YOU MAKE IT SO COMPLICATED!?”.

“BECAUSE I CAN” Revali snapped back. For once admitting to pulling an argument out of nowhere. Faintly the rito recalled saying once ‘I don’t make arguments, you people are just incompetant’. Oh how he was a hypocrite.

“REVALI” Teba threw his hands into the air, giving him an exasperated look “Would it really be a crime for you to be happy?!” he shouted. The rito was always off in his own world, but it was starting to feel like Link was pulling him back down to where the rest of them flew.

“Well, maybe it WOULD” Revali gave an intense glare back, absolutely done with this conversation. And it appeared Teba was too. With a heavy sigh, Teba gave him one last sharp look.

Wordlessly the white rito turned and left, leaving Revali alone with his thoughts again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took 3 WEEKS to write. This one and the next chapter thoroughly stumped me, giving me writer's block. But I tackled it and won. Originally this chapter was just called ‘Depression’ but I realized while finishing it up that it was more denial than depression. There was no bargaining chapter, just because I didn't have any solid ideas. Prologue of Sidlink fic is drafted, but it's not gonna pop up again till it's nearly done, however I'll still be happy to answer questions about it if I can.


	28. Acceptance (Eros pt 4)

Revali woke with the sun, but didn’t leave his roost until it was high in the sky.

No, for a long while he simply laid there, watching daylight creeping across the wall and thinking about what Teba said. Would it really be a crime for you to be happy?

...happy. That concept was very forgein to Revali, but Teba was right. Link meant something new, he was unexpecting and adventurous, polite and quiet. Stubborn enough that none of Revali’s bullshit seemed to phase him, if anything it made him laugh. Link didn’t try to fight Revali, at least not physically or verbally. He found that just existing next to the little hylian raised his mood. To him, Link was happiness.

A happiness he’d failed to find in himself.

But all he could wonder was why? Why this little hylian? He hated the rest of them. Why didn’t he like any other rito, there were plenty that were impressed. Revali knew he was a catch, he just never thought himself to be one in love.

Revali always thought of love as blinding, that love was some sort of desperate habit or want of physical affection to distract people from their misery. That people were blinded and couldn’t see their partner’s faults. But, it didn’t feel like any of that. It was warm, fuzzy, glowing.

Love, it was the feeling that formed in his chest and wrapped around his heart, shortening his breath and causing his words to fail. Love. By the time he wandered out of his roost like normal, it was chanting over and over in his head like a song. Love, Love, Love.

He was so caught up in the haze his dizzy heart was causing that he didn’t even realize where he was headed until he ran right into the object of his affection.

“Hey! Watch where you’re-” the words on the tip of his tongue dissolved like sand as he took in two sky blue eyes staring happily up at him. Great, now his heart was back to trying to kill him and the butterflies were nibbling at his stomach again. “Oh, Link. I thought you left?” He questioned.

The little hylian shrugged ‘Didn’t have enough food, got materials so wanted to cook’.

Revali briefly wondered how much food would be considered enough for a hylian that ate as much as a Tabantha rhinoceros. He supposed the answer was “it’s never enough” seeing Link’s appetite. 

‘So I figured I’d swing by rito and we could talk, I know you wanna rant’ Link grinned up at him, happy with his perceived killing two birds of one stone. Hylia this little hylian was actually going to be the cause of his death.

He didn’t want him to go away.

“Come on, let’s go to the kitchen before Amali claims it for lunch” Revali gently grasped Link’s sleeve, disguising his want of touch as tugging the hylian along to the kitchen. The hylian wrapped his elbow around Revali’s and it felt so right.

Whenever Revali was trying not to be flustered, he did what he did best. Rambled. “-and then I told her she was an idiot. I mean, going monster hunting in a snowstorm? Are you kissing- I mean, kidding me? How was she even expecting to find lizalfos, they stick to the ground to jumpscare people! And that’s how we discovered there’s a hot spring up there, so I guess she did at least something right”. 

Revali had never stuttered over his words before, it was not a good feeling. Don’t slip Revali, he told himself.

“Here we are, the kitchen” he proclaimed awkwardly, trying to hide how his feathers were attempting to fluff down. Amali was finishing up. She watched with amusement as Revali tried to physically force down his feathers while Link searched for butter.

He attempted to level her with a glare, but it didn’t work. He just looked embarrassed, god he hated this. He liked the idea of love in theory, in practice however? Horrible, despicable, absolutely the worst thing that could’ve ever happened to his pride. Amali giggled to herself as she walked out of the kitchen, content on leaving the lovebirds alone. How dare that tiny, pathetic, irritating, annoying, hylian do this to him.

“So…” Revali said, trying to move the conversation on. “What’s on the menu?” he asked.

‘Well, I’ve got porgy, durian, greens, mushrooms, rushrooms, wheat, and I picked up some meat from a deer’ Link signed. Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice Revali’s rather ruffled appearance. Said rito sat down to try and calm himself down.

Why was he even getting so flustered anyway? Nothing had changed. It was only just a week ago that they’d gone to see the lights. Link was practically on his lap then, and not a single feather twitched. They’d had a picnic and he was completely fine.

Wait...

Oh dear Hylian, he realized with growing horror. The tree, going to see the lights. They had a freaking picnic, under the fucking stars, it was practically a date. Link had practically sat in his lap! They even had wildberries for Din’s sake! 

All Revali could do was try to quietly suffocate himself in his own feathers as Link continued humming along, completely oblivious to the rito’s internal screaming. 

“SO” Revali finally burst, having to focus his mind on something- ANYTHING, else. “Erm, did I tell you about my plans to murder Teba? How well does simmered rito cook?” he asked. 

Link turned to raise an eyebrow. ‘Go on’ he said, before continuing to dice mushrooms and greens. 

“Well, First I’m going to dye him green to lower his guard” Revali started “After he thinks I’ve gotten my revenge and he’s in the clear, that’s when I’ll strike. After the humiliation of being turned an ugly color, he’ll think I’m satisfied with my plot. But really it’s how to kill that stumps me. I’ve considered luring him out to the hot spring-”

Link continued to cook as Revali listed all 152 ways he was planning to make the white rito suffer while finishing him off. It finally occurred to him that he didn’t know what Teba had done to warrant it. After deboning the porgy and letting it fry, he went up to Revali and tapped his shoulder.

The rito jumped as if he’d been shocked. “D-don’t do that!” he squawked. Revali was strangely on edge, Link thought.

‘What did Teba do?’ He asked.

Revali blinked, “What do you mean?” He asked, needing clarification.

‘What did Teba do to warrant such humiliation and death?’ Link asked again, curious. Revali had griped about Teba being one of three lovebirds, but as far as he knew it hadn’t actually bothered him.

Instead of launching into a giant, elaborate story like Link was expecting, Revali shut like a clam. “He’s just… horrible,” the rito said, promptly moving onto another topic. No matter how much Link pushed and prodded, he would’ve give in.

Eventually, Link forgot about it, more intent to listen to the story of how Genli tried to eat raw salmon, thinking it would taste the same as her favorite dish. 

It was sunset when Link finally had to leave. Fireflies were rising in the dark as Link walked through the front arch of Rito village. Teba watched curiously from where he was guarding the entrance as the two interacted.

“Don’t die” Revali said, but he couldn’t muster his usual disdain. Instead all that came to his voice was fondness.

Link gave a smile, a very stupidly perfect smile, before turning.

With one final wave, Link skipped off to find a secluded spot to teleport away. Teba didn’t point out the way Revali’s eyes followed him as he disappeared from their sight. The magpie sighed, looking up at the clouds high above.

“...How are you holding up?” Teba asked hesitantly, unsure if Revali was still murder intent.

“I think…” Revali stared at the sky, “I love him” he finally said. “And that’s okay,” he admitted.

Revali and Teba had never had much of a friendship, they were both well respected warriors, that was all. Before now, Teba thought of Revali like a flat picture, everything he was displayed openly- arrogant, egotistical, impossible to put up with. But now he was beginning to see more sides to him. 

Teba smiled at him, “Good, so when are you going to tell him?”. At one point, Teba thought there was no hope for Revali. But in the last few weeks he’d become… tolerable, almost nice if you knew him since meeting Link.

Link will be good for him, he decided, smiling.

Revali snorted “Tell him? Why would I do that?”.

\---Extra---

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten about you!” The rito whirled on him. “You’re still going to be turned into snowquill by the end of this week!”

“Still being turned green?”

“Seaweed avocado shade!”

What the hell even is an avocado? Teba wondered as Revali blathered on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3c


	29. Present (Christmas special)

Twas the night before Christmas, and all throughout Hyrule. Excitement was buzzing as the air turned brisk and cool. A special time of year, you see. For 12 days a year, the entire country was cold and snowy. 

It’s magic, they said, a blessed reminder. To cherish and appreciate all the loved ones held dear. Frost gathered on the windows and ice crept along the ground, the sun was covered up by frosty, fluffy, clouds. Gerudo prepared as rain clouds moved over, hylians shivered from toe to shoulder. The zora were chilled as the ice got bolder, and even the gorons were significantly colder.

To the people it was much more than the cold, a tradition that took thousands of years to mold. Candles were lit and decorations were strung, wreaths were woven and ornaments were hung. People sang and lined the streets, children were allowed delicious candy and sweets. All the houses decked in green, gold, and red, kids slept soundly in their beds. Snow flew back and forth across the yards, while others stayed inside by the fire playing cards. Once a year, a magical time, once a year, and to miss it a crime. 

But one thing Revali wouldn’t understand, something that was passed from hand to hand. Something he’d seldom taken part in, and had no plans to- always pardoned.

Gifts, gifts, so many gifts. They strung across the table with their glittering spiff. Gifts, gifts, so many gifts, he gazed as their ribbons were cut with swift snips. 

“It’s nonsense” his mother told him, “Just another useless thing to celebrate the changing of the seasons. Don’t give them anything, it’s just a bunch of shiny string”. But yet there were so many! Glitter and glitz and paper and gold? Ribbon and bags and stickers and bows! If it was so unimportant, why be so bold? 

Yet every holiday at this time of year, his family skipped out on the festivities and cheer. They’d eat their fill and drink the wine given, then head off to where they would be quietly hidden. 

He was always so jealous the very next day, all the other kids had so many new things to use and play. Revali whined and badgered and threw a fit, but no matter how much he complained, his mother wouldn’t quit. “Be grateful, sit down, and stop it!” she quipped. 

But this year was different, this year had changed. No more was his mother here to force him to be estranged. So many shiny decorations hung down, tinsel wrapped the railing as candles were placed all around. It was almost a dream, of dazzling light. So much so that Revali jumped when Teba asked “Are you alright?”.

He’d been staring at his own reflection in the glassy gold, the child inside him yearning to reach out and take hold. “I’m fine” he said, “I think I just need to go back to bed”.

Teba stared between him and his bauble reflection, in a flash the white rito quickly made the connection. “You always leave this time of year, why not help with the festivities and stay here?”.

“Are you sure that’s alright? I don’t know what to do” Fun? Celebrating? Gifts? He hadn’t a clue.

“It’s easy, I’ll show you, we’ll have a blast” Teba grabbed his arm and tugged him past. Up into the eating area, Revali was surprised to see- in the middle of the room was a gorgeous green pine tree.

“First goes the tinsel, and then on the decor” Teba gestured to the decorations in a box on the floor. “Help me wrap it all the way around”, Revali complied without a sound. The tinsel was fuzzy in his hand, so shiny he could see why it was in high demand.

Around and around and around some more, the tree was starting to shine with just a little decor. Revali found that he wanted to help even more. Even though putting up decorations was described to him as a chore. (It could be that his mother was just a bore).

Shinies and baubles and glass figures went on, from the insides of the tree branches right to the fronds. A beautiful sight made up the tree, and from inside Revali felt childish glee. Teba couldn’t help smiling the way that Revali was staring. (He always felt bad that Revali was forced out of a holiday all about sharing).

“Come on” Teba said “We gotta put presents under”, but Revali just looked at him in a stricken blunder.  
“Presents?” he inquired, wondering if he heard right. There it was again- that dazzling light! It pulsed warmly in his chest, and burned ever bright.

“You’ve never exchanged presents before?” It seemed like the worst nightmare of every person galore. But the glassy stare was all the answer given, and Teba knew his respect for Yami had shriven. 

Revali was awestruck as the glow inside him, he stared at the presents all shining and cut with beautiful trim. They sat perfectly under the tree, all pretty and perfect and stacked neatly. There were names on them- Harth, Saki, Kaneli, and Molli, but… none with the label ‘to Revali’.

It’s fine, he reasoned, it’s happened before. This year will be no different than the others, he doesn't know why he expected more. He was an adult anyways, he had his own things to deal with. He didn’t need baubles or candles or any of this gift giving gibberish.

“I’m going to Link’s house” he announced, “and then to Tarrey”. As much as he hated it, he couldn’t just ignore his family.

“Alright” Teba smiled, “You go have fun”. As Revali took off, he thought ‘I shouldn’t have wanted anything from anyone’.

Don’t expect things of people, his mother would scold. People are rude and nasty, selfish and cold. Though he wondered if that was something he was only told. 

Was it so wrong? To want a gift? Maybe he just wanted to know he was cherished? That someone wanted to give him something, at this point if it was heartfelt- he’d take a string.

A string, how ridiculous. His brain could really be so frivolous. Still, a string would be even better than nothing.

But no, he wouldn’t cry. He’d long since grown out of attempting to try. This holiday would always be miserable, hating other people’s happiness just like usual. At least he had Link, Revali started to think. Surely living so far in the clear, he wouldn’t take part in any of this holiday premier. 

As he landed though, Revali quickly realized he was mistaken. There on Link’s front lawn, something left him quite shaken. Three balls of snow rolled atop one another, given a scarf and a hat with a feather. A snowman, clear as Revali could see. As he stared, he thought, ‘I’ve always wanted to build one of these’.

But, to do so now would be wildish, he certainly couldn’t afford to be acting so childish. Inside he stormed, snow being treked- whether or not the hylian was even home he didn’t even check. And as he opened Link’s door a crack, when he saw the inside of the house- the shining feeling came back.

Link was awake- rare for this hour. His glowing warm smile soothed Revali’s glower. Somehow even as he felt lower than low, seeing the hylian still lit his heart aglow. Though these feelings were clumsy and new, Revali was content with letting them brew. 

To his dismay, (and secret elation) the holiday reached even this corner of Herba’s elevation. There were candles lit, and their melting wicks sent the smell of wax wafting through the air. A beautiful angelic wreath was woven into Link’s hair. He turned and grinned, happy with his house’s seasonal flair.

In his hands, cookies, still steaming from making, it was clear that Link had been up to some baking. Even these little cookies had green and red inside, but Revali couldn’t hate them as Link offered them with pride. “Delicious as always” he sighed. 

‘What brings you up here? I was just about to head down’, Link signed, looking ever confused at Revali’s frown. 

“Oh nothing nothing, It’s just that…” Revali swept a wing through the room, feeling like the personified word of gloom. “I’m a bit tired of all this green and red, I’ve never been allowed this day” with a tired look he said.

‘This is my first holiday season too’ Link chimed, ‘I was actually coming down to spend it here with you’.

Hope rose in his chest but he quickly squashed it down. Link didn’t mean it like that- he was just joking around. “Thanks but no thanks” he decided to run, “I’ve got to go, but you have fun”.

“Family to visit, people to see” plus you don’t need my terrible company. With a sweep of his wing he was off to Tarrey. 

The blonde tried to chase after, but Revali was quick. With a great burst of wind he was gone- blowing out all of Link’s candlesticks. Link was sad but he understood. Water was thick, but not as thick as blood.

For most of the day Revali flew, high above the decor and the people aloof. How could people be happy at a time like this? Maybe Revali just didn’t want to admit he’d come from a family of nothing but pricks. Eventually the rounded platform of tarrey town came into view, time for the same boring routine, and nothing new.

It was sunset when he landed, his mother impatient, begrudgingly he had to accept her invitation. “There you are!” she quipped, “I’ve waited all day, finally we can get this vacation underway”.

All that traveling, just to move more. Wherever they were going would surely be a bore. Everyone was celebrating except for them three, Revali even wondered ‘why does Hylia do this to me?’.

He stared at the goddess statue in the center of town, wings folded nicely and with it- a wreath crown. So many ribbons, shinies, and baubles for what? Was he going to be miserable and keep his trap shut? 

No, no, he decided, this wasn’t right. What was he doing here? Ruining his night. He didn’t need gifts, he didn’t need presents. He wanted people, he wanted presence. 

Revali flew swift, Revali flew true. Faster and faster his gale still grew. He was back at Link’s house flying through the faded light, the evening was over and now it was night. And seeing that quaint little house in the distance made him feel like everything was going to be alright. 

As the door flew open for the guest, Link stirred from his sleepy rest. Asleep on the bed with hair all upright, but seeing Revali made it worth the fright. “Oh, sorry- it’s nearly midnight” Revali backed away, just about ready to hide from sight.

Link grabbed his arm, not showing signs of alarm, but rather being excited. From beneath his bed he produced several objects, clearly delighted. Revali’s breath hitched, he thought he’d been ditched, but Link began to explain. ‘Everyone knew you’d come here, so I tried to get you to remain’.

Gifts, Gifts, Presents Galore. Each of them with the clear name that made his heart soar. All this, for him alone, he was appreciated. But then he backtracked, and suddenly stated. “But I didn’t get you anything at all”, Link simply smiled ‘Your presence here is a gift, if I recall’.

Revali tore into them as the clock struck twelve, eagerly and quickly he wanted to delve. Of course he appreciated each and every one, but the best gift of all came when he was done.

A scarf, a beautiful green bundle of wool, with hefty warmth and lining that was gold. “Thank you, Link” the hylian was cheerfully told. Eagerly round his neck it went, settling snugly- smelling of cinnamon and mint. Revali felt his heart glow with a dazzling cheer, and for once he understood why everyone loved this time of year.

Link was awake long enough to smile, and soon Revali’s fatigue caught up to him by a mile. Without thinking, they both held each other close and went to sleep, not a creature was stirring and neither made a peep.

The fireplace crackled, the clock quietly chimed. The two slept easily, arms and legs intertwined. Snow crept up the window, frost blurring the sight. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I’m good at rhyming!” Author proudly quipped. (Proceeds to rhyme ‘with’ alongside ‘gibberish’).
> 
> Fun fact, I’ve been writing this since October 11th. I hope you all will find this pleasant. I know I had fun writing Present :D


	30. Flowers for the Prince

Finally, warm humidity. The start of winter was right around the corner. With so much snow and so much wind in Hebra, Link figured it was time to get away for awhile- to Lanayru, where it was warmer next to the sea.

Zora’s domain was absolutely lovely, with beautiful sparkling cliffs and rushing waterfalls. There were an abundance of ponds from the humid atmosphere, which was perfect for frog hunting.

And snails, Link thought to himself, plucking yet another from the riverside. Lots of snails. The fat thing wiggled in his hand, wondering why it’d been plucked from the riverside and searched for the rock. It disappeared easily into the sheikah slate, slime and all. Link knew it would be there again the minute he desired snail for any reason.

Revali liked the crab, Link absentmindedly thought, would he enjoy snail too? Probably, as long as he wasn’t shown the snail itself. It was plump and slimy, one giant muscle of wriggling flesh. He could already imagine the shrieked reaction the rito would give to having one shoved in his face.

As much as he wanted to see it, Link only silently smirked to himself as he walked off the path into the puddles. It was days like this he enjoyed, warm sun on his skin, boots squishing through the mud. He always felt at his best just exploring. Running through wild terrain without any clue or care as to where he was going. The sense of freedom it gave him was refreshing. Zora’s domain was always nice, the zora stuck to the rivers so the chances of running into one unless you were in the domain itself were slim to none.

Well, Link had always been a rather lucky person.

“Sidon!” There was a soft voice cutting through the sounds of waterfalls he’d been listening to for the last twenty minutes. “Sidon! Please, are you there?” They called into the distance.

Link rounded the corner curiously, there was a zora, female, and- as he was surprised to find, shorter than him. She looked worried, frantically searching around and running- running! On land. Zora were built for swimming, as a result they had rather short legs with webbed feet, so they couldn’t run very fast.

“Sidon!” she said again, before sighing with a saddened frustration. Her voice was soft, barely going below what would be considered a shout. On her back was a trident, it was a beautiful weapon Link had never seen before.

Wait a moment, no. He HAD seen this girl before. She was the zora princess, people always crowded around her on the rare times he visited the domain. He’d seen her once, while sneakily dashing towards the shrine in the middle of the domain, almost two years ago. It explained the gorgeous silver adornments she’d been wearing.

She turned and caught sight of him, “You” she called out, “Traveler, have you seen a young zora child? The same color as me?” the princess asked. Her voice was soft, yet assertive. Passively strong.

He guessed that it must’ve been this “Sidon” she was looking for. Link hadn’t seen anyone but her so far, so he shook his head.

She simply frowned, “If you do, please alert the zora guard immediately” she said, pointing down at the nearby river. Yes, now that he was looking he could see someone in armor swimming around, rather swiftly. “Please have a good evening” the small princess nodded once and then jogged past him to jump into the river herself.

So… someone was missing? He hoped they found them soon.

Link had to resist the urge to go looking himself, but then why resist? Could he program the sheikah slate to look for people? Even then it might just pull him towards the nearest zora guard anyways and that might cause suspicion.

...What if they tried to go up shatterback point? That place was dangerous, a lynel on one end, lizalfo and keese on the other. Link knew from countless luminous mining trips gone wrong that electric keese could easily be a pain, but lethal to the wrong wandering person. And a lynel? Even to an experienced fighter it was a challenge, to any other person it spelled certain death.

I’ll just go looking myself, and collect anything I find along the way, Link decided. As he continued his walk up the cliff, he spotted a faint bluish glow from under the ridges. There were many spike-like platforms that judded out from the slope of the mountain, and he knew silent shrooms liked to grow underneath them, feeding off the rain that pooled in the crevices made.

After I get these silent shrooms, then I’ll head for shatterback point, Link firmly told himself.

He dropped down on the ledge, and as he thought- silent shrooms. Just as he reached for them though, a tiny red hand collided with his.

“Uh…” Link looked up, staring into the dumbstruck eyes of a small zora, arms already full of silent shrooms. They sat there for a moment, just staring at each other. Link picked the mushroom before quietly offering it to the kid with a small smile.

He was adorable, big round eyes and painted red cheeks, there was a thankful sparkle in his eye as he took the mushroom. But what really surprised Link was when the tiny zora freed one hand to sign ‘Thank you’.

He couldn’t help it, his eyes lit up as he signed ‘You’re welcome’. After a second, he asked ‘Do you need help getting back on the path?’. He noticed how the child perked up after seeing that he could sign.

The zora shook his head. ‘I’m Link’ the hylian signed, trying to make him seem more friendly. 

‘Sidon’.

Link paused, this was the missing child. But what were they doing here? Hadn’t the princess herself just been here a moment ago, searching for him? ‘Why are you here? Everyone is worried, Princess is looking for you’ Link signed.

Little Sidon looked down guiltily at his arm full of mushrooms. ‘Can’t go back, not yet’ he said.

‘Why not? What do you need?’ Link asked. He was familiar with this kind of issue, with someone needing something and not being able to back down from something dangerous until they had it.

‘Flowers’ Sidon said, he made a sign Link was unfamiliar with, most likely a name. He signed Bass then the letter Z ‘- said he likes the blue flowers that glow, but I couldn’t find any’. He looked down sadly at the armful of glowing mushrooms and suddenly Link understood his thought process. The shrooms certainly weren’t flowers, but they were blue and glowing.

Not many flowers growing in the domain though. Link thought for a second, before getting an idea, he turned, sitting so he was faced away from the child and started pulling materials out of the sheikah slate. 

Curiously, Sidon watched as the strange hylian started doing something with his hands, hiding what he was holding with his back. Until suddenly he turned back around, holding a bouquet of glowing blue flowers in his hands.

Link patted himself on the back with just how awestruck Sidon looked. He wasn’t specific with what blue and glowing flower was wanted, so he just grabbed a few of each. Five blue nightshades bundled around three silent princesses, tied together with a bow. He figured if they were for someone, he should make them look nice. ‘If you give me those silent shrooms, I’ll give you these flowers’ he signed, holding the bundle under one arm.

Sidon didn’t hesitate, he held out the silent shrooms to Link, taking the flowers gingerly.

“Thank you” the child whispered.

\---

Sidon was happy, even as he was escorted back to the domain by guards to a worried Mipha. 

“Sidon! There you are” she sighed with relief. Sidon felt slightly guilty for making her worry. But at the time he left it seemed important he get the flowers himself! Though that was before he spent two hours looking for them and only finding mushrooms. After that he was more than happy to trade the nice man for them.

He started running, she confusedly watched as he skipped past her legs and towards where the other children were playing.

Bazz was slightly younger, but a very boastful and loud child. He turned, staring with a bit of confusion as the flowers were shoved under his nose. 

“F-for you” Sidon said, stuttering a little. He was still new to speaking and got nervous easily. But Bazz made him feel confident.

The other boy took the flowers, grinning seeing his favorite- blue nightshade. “Awesome!” he said. Mipha, and all the other adults watched with warm fuzzy feelings as Sidon was nuzzled for his efforts, electing a small squeak.

“Awwwww…” Mipha said, forgetting all about the scolding she was going to give Sidon. “Wait, are those silent princesses? Where did he find those…” she wondered as the child couple sat and played together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see your cute baby Sidon and raise you cute nervous nonverbal baby Sidon. The Bazz/Sidon ship is under appreciated.
> 
> On that note, I literally said I was gonna take some time to write more chapters during the once a week update thing and then... didn't. All my time got used up by family so now I'm like... do I slow down the updates again to actually plan or do I attempt to speedwrite chapters to put stuff out??


	31. Difference

There was something new about the air. 

It was the same crisp, early spring air yet there was something better about it. A lightness in his chest that let him take it in better. Like a weight he hadn’t noticed was suddenly gone. Revali always thought that poems about love were sappy and overexaggerated, but now he wondered if that was just him not knowing what it felt like at the time. It really did feel good.

Once he’d soared high above all the others, mocking them and gloating. Now it just seemed too lonely. The great eagle bow was a welcome weight on his back.

He knew Link would be back with a story, he always was. Revali just wished it wouldn’t take so long. 

Not to mention, having Link around was the only way to keep Teba off his back.

“You NEED to tell him” the rito stressed for the hundredth time. 

All Revali had been doing was walking up the stairs to the landing, that was IT. Teba had ambushed him out of nowhere and once again they were going in circles. As he walked up the steps he tried to ignore the sound of the other’s footsteps. 

“I don’t need to do anything!” Revali griped back, “Fuck off! Forget what you saw, and leave me to be in peace”. God he hoped Link came back soon if only Teba would stop pestering him.

“To sulk in peace and what? Keep your beak shut for the rest of your days? Attempt to kill off your crush?” Teba shot. If there was any rito that didn’t put up with nonsense or chit chat, it was Teba.

“Crush” Revali huffed. Once upon a time that term would have NEVER been associated with him. Oh how the mighty hath fallen.

This argument went on and on. Teba insisting that Revali confess his crush- er, tell his feelings to Link. All Revali had to do was be stubborn, EVENTUALLY he would get frustrated and fly off. 

“Yes, Crush”

Eventually. Any minute now.

“You can’t avoid it forever you know” Teba scowled, narrowing his eyes at Revali. Why was this white rito so intent on encroaching on his business? Revali didn’t need a therapist, much less a harassing one. “Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to tell him” he said. 

“What? And you’ll make me?” the magpie scoffed, “Lay off Teba, don’t you have somewhere else to be? A child to take care of? Maybe some targets to aim at? Hylia knows you need the practice”. Revali swept off, taking off from the landing. 

He didn’t go very far, just far enough to land on the ridge of snow near the footpath to the flight range. He thought he’d made it clear that the conversation was over, put apparently not. Soon, there was yet again someone behind him. “It’s not like you can just run from me you know, I’m not so easily dismissed”.

“I can see that” Revali mumbled under his breath. That titan of a rito had damn near been harassing him. “Fine then, what will it take me to get a moment of peace?” he demanded, whirled to face his harasser.

Many rito respected Revali, and let him do his own thing. Teba however, did not deal with anyone’s bullshit. As such, he and Revali were not afraid to clash heads. They still respected each other, he had to admit he admired Teba’s determination, but determination also had another name- stubbornness. 

Stubbornness that Revali had too, meaning that they could go around in circles for days. 

“Tell him” Teba said “at least consider it, I don’t care if it’s in a month or longer, tell him you love him and then I’ll be happy”.

“I’ll tell him when I’m dead, is that good enough?” Revali asked.

Teba’s hard look was his answer. He hated that, the rito was trying to mentor him like some sort of love expert. Maybe he was, having two mates. That joke had started this whole mess hadn’t it? He’d slap past Revali if he could.

“No” the rito said, steel and firm. “Tell me why you’re refusing. If you can’t argue something reasonable, then you’re just in denial.

What the hell did Teba know about Denial anyways?

Fine then, Teba wanted an argument? He’d get an argument.

“Have you considered” Revali drawled, mustering his usual arrogance “that it might not be culturally appropriate?” suddenly a new argument was forming, words on the tip of his tongue. 

“I mean, a hylian and rito together? Not to mention the strongest best looking most eligible rito bachelor in all of hyrule? A riot would break out” Revali said, even as Teba gave him the most ‘are you serious’ look in all of Hebra.

“AND” Revali figured there was no hurt in fibbing a bit “Link’s only 17, I’m 20. Completely inappropriate. Some people might think it okay, but I would never think to even-”

“Bull” Teba said “Shit”. The rito was nothing short of aggressive, “Link told me he was 18 when I asked about him living alone, you can’t lie to me”.

Revali clicked his tongue, turning away with irritation. “Well, 18’s still young”.

“You’re just trying to give me excuses” Teba said, “18 is old enough to marry, so shut the fuck up about it”.

The rant Revali was about to spew dissolved in his mouth like sand. With an unhappy noise he groaned. What else could he possibly say? “You still can’t force me to ask him out, you hold no power here” he hissed.

“Maybe” Teba said too fucking cooly, “But I’ll never go away otherwise” he said.

Fuck. Teba knew he was wearing through Revali’s arguments. Not good. He had to think of something, a solid wall that Teba couldn’t argue his way around with logic. 

“Besides” Revali huffed “My mother would never approve”.

“Like she would even if he were rito. That woman wouldn’t approve of anyone being together if Hylia herself blessed the marriage” Teba shot back.

“Eh…” That statement was truer than true, but Revali felt confirming it outloud would bring down her wrath upon him. Since she was widowed, she disliked seeing any sort of relationship between anyone else. Unless it was Arashi, who flirted like a dead stone.

No, worse than that actually. His idea of flirting was showing off and expecting them to be impressed.

…

OKAY so Revali did it too but Arashi did it in a way that was REALLY unattractive, super embarrassing, no finesse at all. Revali was suave, cultured, elegant. Arashi was just… ugh. Super ugh. His attempts to attract was puffing up to open air and expecting people to come running. Worse, he couldn’t even see why it wasn’t working either. He had the charm of a bird who broke its wing and got drunk off fermented fruit.

Nonetheless, Revali internally cursed Teba for his solid point. “Why do you even care?” Revali shot back, “You’ve already got two mates, unless you’re planning to seduce Link yourself you don’t need to know any of what I’m doing”.

Instead of recoiling like Revali was expecting, Teba rolled his eyes. “Well, he IS 18” Teba huffed, “I could try, same as you”.

The thought suddenly made Revali’s brain come to a screeching halt? Teba? With Link? No no no, it’d be preposterous. But could it? Link WAS 18, and in all his months of knowing Link not once had the hylian stated his preference in partners. There was no telling Link could be attracted to rito, but there wasn’t any telling that he WASN'T. Why would Link even go for someone like Teba? Teba was horrible!

“ABSOLUTELY NOT” Revali screeched at the top of his lungs before he could stop himself. Teba looked surprised at the outburst.

“Are you kidding me? You and him? You already have two partners anyway! If you think you’re even the slightest bit deserving of his attention you’re a complete idiot! 18 and 20 might be acceptable but you’re what- 30? You couldn’t be closer to being senile already! You should already have kids of your own! Not to mention your ghastly white feathers and ugly markings! You couldn’t be a worse match for him! If there’s any rito Link is going to fall for, it’s gonna be-!” Revali faltered a bit “Me…”.

At Teba’s smug look, Revali finally realized his words. “That’s the spirit” the rito chuffed proudly “and I’m only 26”.

“Well-” Revali turned “He’s not going to marry a rito. I was simply stating that Link isn’t blind and I’m obviously the best rito to consider marriage wise”. His argument sounded fake, even to his own ears.

“Oh come ON” Teba growled, “You can’t still be that far down the hole of denial, can you?” He demanded. Denial? No, Revali was stating nothing but fact

“Just because I’ve admitted my…” he huffed the word out “feelings, doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything about it. There’s a reason I’m a solitary warrior after all”.

“Oh” Teba said, he folded his arms, looking at Revali with a hard stare “So you’re scared”. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. Revali bristled at the audacity Teba had to claim that. That rito had some NERVE.

“I’m not scared” he said accusingly, “If anything, I’m being mature by not ruining everything”.

“Ruining everything?” Teba shot back “You think you’re ruining everything? I thought you were perfect and could do no wrong?” He baited.

“Listen well, Teba,” he said coldly, “There’s a reason I’m known as solitary warrior, remember it” Revali considered this conversation over. Without another word, he blasted off into the sky, far higher above what Teba would reach.

Yes it was true there was a difference in the air. Some little fluffy idiot of a hylian had… been the change. A good one. But nothing Teba could say would convince Revali. He stood true to his argument.

The white rito stared after him, sighing with disappointment. “Why are you trying to make the same mistake I almost did?” He wondered out loud. But no one heard him except the snow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The term “dead stone” was invented at 11:24 pm on 12/5/2020 by someone very tired. They were too tired to bother correcting it. So here we are, an entire chapter of Revali and Teba arguing. I can say 100% that I do not know why I wrote this as it was nothing but filler. 
> 
> Happy new years to you all, I'm warning you now that I might take a short hiatus or slow down chapter posting again cause the next few chapters I gotta post are all plot stuff. Inspiration has been kinda slow cause I'm working on a bunch of other stuff besides this story so I haven't been thinking about it much, but I promise I'm not gonna stop posting until it's done.


	32. Cuddlebug

There was a memory that sprang back into Revali’s head.

An old thought from long, long ago, when he was nothing but a chick, too small to fly. When his father was still around, tall and puffy with unruly electric blue feathers that liked to go all over the place unlike his mother’s neat and orderly ones. Revali couldn’t remember much, but he could remember a smile like fireflies. Soft yet glowing.

“Gross” he said one day after catching his father nuzzling his mother. Yami simply leveled him with an unamused look and went back to kissing her husband. 

After she walked away, his father leaned down to look Revali in the eye. “Why is it gross?” he asked, faintly amused. 

“It just is” the little rito insisted.

“It’s just affection, it ain’t gonna hurt ya” his father chuckled, watching at the little rito’s feathers puffed with disgust. 

“Ewwwwwww” Little Revali said “Stop it, it’s gross”.

“You won’t think it’s gross when you start doing it” His father chuckled. 

“No” he pouted, “Never”.

“Never… what?” His father tilted his head. Revali could still see those emerald green eyes, shining with mirth. He wondered how they would gaze upon him today, if they still could.

“Never gonna do that” Revali folded his little arms, stomping his foot with certainty. A bellowing laugh slipped from his father’s lips. “It’s gross”.

“Someday, you’ll meet someone who you really like,” his father promised, “Who you’ll want to do it with” he said.

“Nooooo!” The small chick screamed loudly, protesting as he was picked up and swaddled in his father’s arms. He wished he could remember what that embrace felt like. 

As Revali looked at his own feathers now, he couldn’t help but think they were a perfect blend of his mother and father. A dark blue mixed together from bright blue and sleek black, but the white edges and green eyes was all his father. The last living part of him.

He dropped his hands, gazing out the edges of the roost. It was no use, he couldn’t see anything other than snowstorm anyways.

Link was supposed to be back today, but with the storm outside it was clear that he wouldn’t. No hylian could stand this freeze, not without losing a few fingers. The trip down to Rito would certainly be too much, even for an individual like Link.

(He wasn’t sulking… it was just… recreational resting). Hylia sometimes it felt as if he couldn’t keep the hylian off his mind for more than two seconds. Revali was slowly coming to terms that maybe he didn’t want to keep him off his mind. 

He huffed, stupid little hylian. Constantly getting into everything, even his head. ESPECIALLY, his head. Some days it felt as if that stupid little blonde was created just to make his feathers ruffle and heart spin. It was only a matter of time before Revali started hallucinating him-

“Hi”

Revali (did not scream okay? It was just a normal reaction to someone sneaking up on him in his own home) nearly flipped the hammock in surprise. His immediate reaction was to try and lunge for his bow, but being so thoroughly tangled in blankets meant he simply flailed a bit before realizing who the intruder was exactly.

“Link? How in the name of Hylia did you get here in such a merciless storm??” Revali questioned. This one was a really tough one, the first really big one of winter. All the roosts were wrapped up to prevent snow from getting in, and even then the chill seeped in. The rito weren’t too bothered by the cold, but the snow and frost itself was an inconvenience. It piled up everywhere and made the air too foggy to see your own hand.

He could see the hylian was clearly affected. His cheeks and nose were flush, turning red alongside the tips of his ears. Link had on his snowquill armour like usual, but his neck and head had retracted to his shoulders. He was shuddering faintly.

But that still didn’t explain how he managed to get down the mountain in such a storm. Link was very able, yes, but how does one shield surf down when they can’t even see their own hand? Much less which rocks or cliffs they’re passing or falling off.

Link put the square rock- slate if Revali recalled, back in it’s bag.

Oh right, Revali wanted to facepalm, the shrine. How had he completely forgotten Link could teleport? It seemed like a pretty important fact. 

After that fact absorbed back into his head, he realized he had something else to be mad about. “What in the name of Hylia are you doing here?!” Revali screeched at Link, who looked completely unfazed.

He couldn’t be here! Not now! Suddenly Revali was remembering in grueling detail how he’d neglected to braid his feathers this morning, content on staying inside because of the merciless hail and snow outside the roost. All the rito were inside, even if they could fly in a storm, nobody could see anything. Rare, but it happened. Not to mention he hadn’t even gotten dressed, he wasn’t wearing armor, just fabric.

“GET. OUT.” The rito hissed, channeling all his nervous energy into rage in the hopes Link would get the hint and just LEAVE. It didn’t matter that the rito was wishing for his very presence not two minutes ago, Link couldn’t witness anything less than perfection! And right now was very much not perfection!

Link instead, like the bastard he was, responded by stripping. WHAT.

Off came the snowquill, leaving him in a thin hylian shirt. Revali’s brain sputtered, what was this? Solicitation?? He tried to comprehend what he was seeing. 

“Wha- HOW DARE YOU. You come into MY roost, and now you have the gall to just…” he tried not to think too hard about what he was seeing in front of him. “DO WHATEVER YOU LIKE. Well, I’ll-”

Finally, his brain came to a complete stop as Link proceeded to climb into his hammock, nearly flipping it in the process. ‘Cuddle’ Link signed as explanation as he made himself right. at. home. in. Revali’s. FUCKING. HAMMOCK.

Revali’s brain wasn’t working, but his skin sure as hell was. His feathers started fluffing up as the Hylian draped himself over Revali, under the blankets. His head settled right in the crook of Revali’s neck. And all the rito could think was that he wanted more.

Eventually he came back to himself, realizing that he needed to do something or else the dreaded hylian would think he was becoming soft. “For the record, I’m letting you be there. Don’t get used to it” the rito tried. But it sounded weak, even to him.

Too late, Link was already nestling into his neck and now Revali himself was used to it. Well, it was him that moved there right? Revali was making no moves by simply letting him be there, soaking up his warmth.

‘Warm’ Link stated.

Finally Revali found his argument, “Fine” he said “warm up, then be on your way” he regretted the words, but hopefully Link would be stubborn enough to ignore him entirely. Goddess, he actually wished to be ignored for once.

Suddenly, Link’s eyes flashed with delight. Looking down at Revali’s neck. “What?” the rito asked, still flustered. It wasn’t healthy to have his heart beat this fast right? He should get a medical note against Link being close.

‘You’re wearing my scarf’ Link said ‘The one I made you for christmas’. He looked happy about it.

Oh, he’d almost forgotten. The scarf was very nice, mostly flashy though. His normal brown scarf was built to resist cold, it was hefty and thick. But this one would tear if handled by snow and intense wind. He put it on today simply because he thought Link was going to be gone. Not that he missed the stupid hylian or anything.

“O-oh, well- I mean, it was meant for me so why not get use out of it?” Revali blustered, his feathers were puffing back up “Plus it’s… fraile to the snow, really best for special occasions so it lasts much longer” he said. Which was true.

‘You don’t have to worry about ruining it’ Link said, smiling like an idiot. ‘I’d be happy to make you another, it took me 6 tries to get that one right’ he said ‘so I’ll make the next one more durable’.

It didn’t feel right though, he wanted to keep this one safe. It held a precious memory to him, of a holiday where he didn’t feel abandoned. “I-I suppose” he said “that I wouldn’t mind having more of a wardrobe on hand. Your work isn’t the worst”.

“Hey! What are you doing? You’re fine now!” Revali protested half heartedly.

“Warm” Link mumbled into his side.

Not a minute later, the hylian was fast asleep. He seemed to prefer Revali over any pillow. A purr started up in his throat, rumbling like a stone talus emerging from slumber. He could feel it against his chest, among the fire racing under his skin. The touch was electric.

He almost regretted indulging Link that first time, and every time after that. Once the hylian knew what he wanted was attainable, he turned into an insatiable monster. Insistent, and stubborn as all hell. Revali shifted to wrap his arms around Link.

...at least he was soft. And short enough to cuddle easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sad to announce… I have decided… I’m only gonna update saturdays now. Sad I know, but with school coming up again and my hyperfixation moving from botw to another fandom, I’m just not gonna be able to keep up with the 2 chapters per week thing anymore, at least- not for the near future. Rest assured though, I won’t stop working on this story till it’s done, that’s a promise. 
> 
> I figured I’d give you one more chapter of cute fluff between Revalink before we move onto plot stuff.


	33. Guppies

Sidon was still very small. 

Of course, he was a very sweet little kid. Small children take time to learn things, needing to be taught good habits over and over again while learning bad ones at the drop of a hat. After a couple years of attempting to teach Sidon to speak, it became apparent that Sidon was still extremely shy. He could speak, but stuttered over his words and would too easily look like a deer in the headlights. 

The royal family was soft spoken yes, but Sidon hesitated to say barely a word to anyone other than Mipha. On good days he could speak a little to some others, but most days all Mipha would hear is a simple “good morning”, “good night” and “I love you” from him. 

Sign language was a good way to counteract this. But while Sidon was slowly becoming fluent, he still did want to share words with anyone, even silent ones. His sister and father just weren’t sure what the problem was, everyone Sidon had ever met was welcoming, he shouldn’t have a problem talking when everyone was so eager to hear his words.

Mipha knew if the issue persisted for too long, it’d become a habit. They needed to get him to start speaking while he was learning, but how?

The solution had come in the form of a sneaky little guppy that had managed to figure out how to climb waterfalls before all their other kin, and swam up the back entrance to the palace. The guards didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to be there. 

“I thought he was a friend of Sidon's,” Rivan apologized profusely, but Mipha shushed him as they peeked into Sidon’s room, observing the two children playing. 

His name was Bazz, a little black guppy. “Are you really a prince?” Bazz asked.

“Mm” Sidon nodded.

“Can I be one too? Wait, no, I wanna be a princess” Bazz said “My mother said Princess’s can make the fish do what they want” he said. The two were sitting in the middle of Sidon’s room, pushing a ball back and forth.

“Does that mean we gotta get married?” Sidon whispered back, not using sign.

“Please?” Bazz asked.

To her amazement, the young prince didn’t shy down from such a bold request. “O-only if you gimme a pretty rock” Sidon said “Dad said that’s how p-princes get married”

“Okay, but you gotta get me flowers! I like the blue ones that glow” He said “Princesses need flowers” he said.

Mipha had realized, with a startle, that may it was because Sidon was never around kids his age. Always around adults that were friendly, yes, but towered over him. There was a lot of pressure to be polite. He almost never played with those his own age. That would need to be remedied quickly.

A week later, Sidon had gone missing. Mipha had been panicked, asking anyone she stumbled across if they’d seen him and to report it if she did.

When he came back with glowing flowers, it suddenly made sense. Five nightshades elegantly swirled around three silent princesses. The bouquet was huge, taking up the entirety of Sidon’s arms.

“F-for you” he presented a little nervously to Bazz. The other boy’s face lit up.

Bazz had given Sidon back a pebble, smooth and dark blue in origin. Probably plucked from a thousand others on a shoreline where they washed up. “Okay” Bazz said “We can get married now”.

Mipha would be horrified if they were just a little older, but for now it was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen. She followed Sidon to the throne room giggling the entire way as he went to present the news to his father.

“D-dad, um…” Sidon said, clutching the pebble to his chest. “Can I um…” the King waited patiently for his son’s request.

“I’m getting m-married” Sidon said.

The king’s eyes blew wide open, so did Muzu’s. Dorephan looked to Mipha who was trying to restrain her giggles with a smile. Muzu looked scandalized, as if he might faint at any second and fall on the floor.

It took a long time for Mipha to explain through her hysterics what Sidon actually meant, and what actually was happening. Unfortunately, the first thing out of her mouth was “H-he hehe, got an engagement-” before Muzu finally couldn’t take it anymore. The old zora fell to the floor which send her spiraling into laugher all over again.

Mipha really loved her little brother. 

\---

King Dorephan, much to the protest of Muzu and the other elders, found the idea absolutely adorable. Of course, it wasn’t a real marriage, they were kids after all. But still Muzu was absolutely adamant the prince couldn’t get married so willy nilly, unbinding marriage or not. So the king offered a compromise. “Now” he had said sternly “In zoran law it states that you cannot get married until after a courtship of at least six months”.

Sidon had accepted that answer and gone back to playing with Bazz. Dorephan had called him to the throne room to see the (very) young man being courted by his son. Mipha could still see them from the throne room, playing on the steps with something.

“They’re adorable,” he smiled. 

“Yes, though quiet- Sidon is more stubborn than Muzu might think” she agreed, “We might be arranging a wedding sooner than he thinks”. The two laughed a little. 

“When he's older I'll never let him forget this,” Dorephan chuckled to himself. Suddenly he stood up a little straighter “That reminds me, before I forget. I must ask, have you considered Princess Zelda’s request?” he asked.

“I have,” Mipha said, finally looking at her father. After a moment of silence, he gestured for her to go on. “I’ve decided… I am going to accept her request”.

Her father sat up rigidly in his throne, “You understand the dangers that come with piloting this… divine beast” he said.

“I was thinking of naming them Ruta” She said, trying to steer the conversation to a lighter topic.

“Mipha”

She finally turned, looking at her father’s face instead of at the wall or floor. There was a deep understanding in his eyes, though he was very clearly upset. He sighed heavily before continuing to speak, “It is your choice. But I must advise against this, and warn you of the dangers” he spoke. “There are plenty of warriors who could be crowned, and you are the best. But, you are also our princess and… the queen is no more” He said. “Do you understand what I am saying?”.

“Yes” she replied. As crown princess, if she died in battle… then Sidon would be the last heir to the throne. The Zora family was already cut short due to her late mother’s death, having only two heirs was risky enough. Most generations tried to have at least 3 to 5, but having only one heir…

She looked at her father, born a sibling of 4. Yet here he sat, the last of his brothers and sisters. If she died, then that would someday be Sidon.

But… that was the reason she had to fight. 

“I must fight” she said, “If we, as Zora do not give it our all, there might not be a throne- even if Sidon is the one who inherits it” MIpha insisted. “Having someone else pilot Ruta might be the best for the zora, but we need to think about what is best for Hyrule” she said, smiling up at her father.

He mulled over that, and eventually smiled “Please” he said, “Come back to me alive”.

“I will,” she promised. To try and lighten the conversation up, she said “If anything it’s Muzu you might need to worry about” Mipha giggled.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry” Dorephan smiled, gazing at the two children playing on the throne room steps “Child crushes don’t last very long. They’re just copying what the adults… do… is that a frog?” he asked hesitantly.

Mipha’s eyes widened as she turned to see it was indeed a frog the two children were handling. “Oh dear!” she quickly made a break from the throne room to stop the guppies from traumatizing it too much. 

The future held a lot of hope, just as Sidon held a very dizzy frog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the late upload, trying to change my sleep schedule for school has been... unsuccessful. I have slept about 16 hours across three days in chunks and am running purely on caffeinated tea because actual coffee makes me feel like I'm gonna throw up, but rest assured I am still updating this story!


	34. Warrior

It was snowing, wasn’t it always?

Even in the warm season, when the frost didn’t touch rito village. It was always snowy at the flight range, but the type of snow depended on the day. Some days were chilling, with biting wind and cutting ice, blurring your sight until only the rito could see the targets. Not today.

While white flakes still drifted down from the sky despite the sun. The light reflected off the snow like a mirror, making it blinding. Truly a sunny day. The wind was still, which was good. The flight range was a ghost town, perfect for practicing what was quickly becoming a secret talent. 

It was there Revali knelt now, on the edge of the flight range, chest heaving. Mouth open to take in as much air as possible for his next attempt. How long had he been here? It didn’t matter, he wouldn’t leave until there was improvement. If the sun went down, he’d simply come back again the next day, and the next, and the next. He was still too shaky, still too easily overtaken by the wind.

Revali steeled himself, letting the tips of his wings hover over the ground. With one quick motion, he summoned his updraft. A power that was quickly growing, that despite its promise, was still too strong for him to control.

One strong flap, and he was up in the air. Spinning in the eye of the updraft, before evening out. He kept his eyes on the sky, trying to ignore the swirling wind around him. If he could just stay here, then the wind couldn’t touch him. It would continue to help him climb and climb, all the way up to the clouds.

Swiftly, steadily, Revali flew towards the heavens. But alas, one minor slip up and it all came crumbling back down upon him. His wind slipped down for just a second, but in the split second he tried to readjust, it grabbed him. He was sent spiraling into the strong winds. Spun around and around, only to be tossed like a frisbee, spiraling towards the ground.

He landed, dead weight, on the stony edge he started on.

It wasn’t more than a few seconds he laid there, before trying to pick himself up. Limbs shaking, missing quite a few feathers, tasting the cold stone and defeat. Even just breathing, felt like a chore.

Finally, sitting back up on his haunches, his head stopped spinning long enough to think. “Not enough” he gasped, “I must… stay in the eye of the whirlwind… push myself harder…” Revali reminded himself. Because it was the truth, he had to push himself harder. Push himself to his limits and expand them. This gale was challenging him to his very core, breaking him from the inside out. 

He groaned a little as he pushed himself up, it might be breaking a bone or two as well.

It was then that Revali realized he wasn’t alone. Out of the corner of the eye there was someone there. He turned, expected a certain meddlesome hylian. But Link wasn’t there, instead, watching his torment was the princess herself, escorted by no less than two guards, all three with horses.

He huffed, forcing himself to get up faster. “You know, your highness” he struggled a little to get to his feet “It’s rude to eavesdrop”. Revali already knew what this was about, he’d been sent a letter. It seemed the princess came in person, just to confirm.

How very thoughtful of her.

She spoke, her voice was light but steady. “My apologies, I went to the village and I was told I could find you here” Zelda said. This conversation would be a short one.

Revali stood for a moment, just letting himself breathe. He turned, knowing what she’d come to ask already. “You have need of me, to defeat calamity ganon”. It wasn’t a question. He knew she needed him. “To slay the beast once and for all, it will be my great pleasure”. A pleasure indeed, he looked forward to the day when all the land knew the name Revali.

Her highness looked delighted, her lips curved into a smile and her eyes sparkled just a little bit more. “Thank you, Revali. If we work together, I’m certain we will be able to defeat-” he cut her off. Maybe it was a little rude, but he didn’t exactly admire the proposed plan.

“However!” 

Revali turned, lowering himself smoothly to the ground. His gale was summoned once more.

No, he didn’t like the plan at all. Why summon four of the strongest warriors in the land only for some hylian to get all the credit anyways? Why should an inanimate object decide who was worthy, instead of the people who trained their entire lives to be the best. He would show the princess his skill, and he would show that little hylian just what this rito warrior could do.

He shot into the air with determination, no mistakes, no flaws. This time would be perfect, he had an audience after all.

Spinning once more, letting the air take him before evening out. His wing slipped, nearly sending him spiralling once more, but this time he was strong enough, fast enough. Enough to stay there, in the eye of the whirlwind until he was high enough to spread his wings and float far in the sky above the flight range. 

Quickly, his eyes scanned their every target, all 20 of them. Each target which had been hit no less than dozens of times, with this time adding another to the list. 

He glided for a second, then dove.

It was a practiced motion, one that was second nature to him. Crafted from many nights of practice, many failed times of a bow being dropped to the ground before it was perfected. Flipping around to aim, striking three perfect shots, three targets hit. Each exploded in a shower of red and yellow flames. 

But Revali wasn’t done just yet, swiftly the gale was summoned once more, launching him back through the sky. The flight range lit up in a dazzling show of pyrotechnics as each target was obliterated by the archer.

When he was done, he landed on the railing of the flight range. He could see the princess’s impressment, hope glittered on her face. He took a bow.

“I know I play the biggest part in helping that, ahem-” phoney supposedly chosen to bring down ganon of all things “little knight with the darkness sealing sword, correct?” of course he was. 

Like hell he was going to play a side character to this legend. He didn’t train to be the best only for the role of fighting ganon to be handed off to some- what? Person who pulled a sword out of the ground? Did they even know who it was yet? 

“Well” he said “If they lose their confidence after seeing me in action” Revali paused a little for effect “DON’T come crying to me”.

He felt accomplished, pride and triumph swelled up inside his chest to warm him from the inside out. Yes, the wind was still unruly, but he would be the one to command it. He’d train again and again until it was his and his alone. This… calamity, he decided, would be taken down only by his arrow.

It was standing there, looking at the amazed wonder coming from the princess and her guards, that he knew it was the truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, using this authors note to clarify a few things. 
> 
> 1\. Yes Link is still the hero, but nobody knows that since the sword hasn't been pulled yet. In this au, the master sword is basically exacliber in which whoever pulls it out of the ground will be the darkness sealing knight. (I mean, why even have it in the korok forest if nobody can get it outta the ground?). So what Revali's mad about is that the role of defeating ganon is automatically handed off to somebody else who's hylian and he's basically demoted to Vah Medoh driver.
> 
> 2\. Someone else will be Zelda's knight, we're gonna be seeing her pretty soon actually.
> 
> I finally got my sleep schedule fixed, feeling good. Love you all, posted this early, goodnight.


	35. Gale

By the time Zelda got back to the inn, she was pretty tired. They’d gone to see Revali immediately upon getting to the village, meaning no rest from the cold travel up to the snowy borders of Hebra and Tabantha. But Zelda was excited, even if Revali had trouble with the plan, he’d still readily agreed. Things were coming together, meaning one last destination to their journey, down to the desert to see Urbosa again.

Zelda wanted to get Medoh up and running immediately, but of course a certain knight was there, insisting it could wait.

“You’ve been travelling all day your highness, up since dawn haven’t sat down since” Renea said. “The divine beast has stood still for hundreds of years, it’ll wait a few hours more” she reassured Zelda.

The taller blonde would have none of Zelda’s excuses. She stood regally, sternly, commanding. 

“If we get Medoh up and working with it’s new pilot today, then we can be gone by tomorrow!” Zelda said again “It’ll take us at least a week to get down to the desert, time is of the essence”. It was, if she wanted a day or two more with Urbosa. Seeing the woman was always a treat for Zelda, especially with how much time her duties took up.

Renea gave her a look that said all too much. “Don’t rush yourself” she reminded “the four pilots will all be at Hyrule castle as soon as we’ve gathered them. Lady Mipha has already confirmed she’ll be there in a week. Chieftess Urbosa will be coming back with us as soon as Vah Naboris is up and running” the captain patted Zelda on the head, being a height much taller than the girl “So you’re going to relax, even if it’s for half a day”.

Zelda finally gave in, retreating back into the inn to lay on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling with quiet disappointment. It just felt so long since she’d seen the older woman, every single trip to see each other left her yearning. And yes, they’d be going back together, but that was with guards and other people, it wasn’t the same. There would be no time together.

“I know, I know” Renea said from the door, “but I promised her I’d take care of you. Just… try and take a nap, okay?”. As she turned, the tall captain bumped into another hylian, a short blonde.

“Oh, excuse me” she said, not sparing a second glance.

\---

Link didn’t bother with the woman who nearly ran into him. A hylian guard- it might’ve caught his attention another time, but now… he was itching to find a certain someone- who he hadn’t seen all week.

Revali hadn’t visited him at all, from what Link had caught from Teba- the blue warrior had been at the flight range all week, day after day training. Link wasn’t sure exactly what it was about, but he had an inkling feeling…  
-  
“See this?” Revali held up a letter. The creamy envelope had been opened already, neatly and untorn, and it’s recipient had put the note back inside. A royal blue wax seal covered the outside, in the shape of the triforce. “It’s a letter from the princess,” he said.

“They need me” Revali told him, “As the most skilled archer in all of Hyrule”. His words bled pride, but Link’s mind couldn’t help but race.  
-  
Revali had brushed the letter aside in favor of his pride, but the memory lingered in Link’s mind for a long time. Not just because of Revali, but because of Zelda. It’d been so long, but it felt like yesterday. What would Zelda need Revali for? Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the rito himself, who had come back to his roost for a break.

It took awhile for the archer to notice Link, standing in the doorway staring at him. Link could tell something was up.

Revali stood there, silently wondering how to start this conversation. “I’m sure you know I’ve been busy…” he trailed off. “But, I’m sorry to say that I’ll be leaving. I have a duty of utmost importance, at the castle”. He said.

The castle. There was no other explanation needed. Revali watched Link closely for his reaction, only to see the other sort of… shrug. ‘What for exactly?’ Link asked.

“Well, as I’m sure you probably have heard” Revali started, “Ganon is rising again, and they need me to defeat it” he said. Confidence oozed from his words. “There’s a great machine I’m needed to pilot, of course I’ll be in the final battle against him too”. 

Revali always had a hard time telling what Link was thinking, but now was even harder. The hylian kind of froze, just staring at him with this extremely blank look on his face. It didn’t look like any sort of shock, but rather just a quiet absorption of this information.

“I’m going to be gone for a… while” he admitted with a grimace, “There’s some intense fights coming up, so try not to die without me alright?”.

‘I can’t believe you’ Link signed, for a second, Revali felt his heart drop. Until Link followed up with ‘Charline is going to be so mad you’re gone’.

“Seriously?!” The rito couldn’t help but bellow “The frost talus?!”

Link nodded sagely, ‘Yes, you’re the favorite, who’s going to keep her from destroying the flight range while you’re gone?’ Revali could see the edges of his lips twitching upwards into a smile. 

“I cannot believe you!” Revali crowed angrily, but he had to admit that he was relieved, Link didn’t look upset at all. Not that he cared of course, one little hylian wasn’t going to stop him from his destiny.

Said blonde hylian grinned at him, eyes shining with mirth. But still, they found themselves signing ‘Come back safe, promise?’.

Of course that was silly to Revali, he was the best of the best, there was no doubt he would come back unharmed. He had his great beast to defeat, his legend, and he’d be damned if he was going to die during it. But still, the words were appreciated because it showed the hylian cared. “As if anything could take me down” he huffed, “don’t have so little faith”. 

Without warning, the Hylian launched himself at the rito. His arms latched onto him like a demented leech determined to give him a heart attack.

‘Fuck’ Immediately his feathers started to stand on end, he was doing so well too! Stupid little hylian! He couldn’t keep fluffing up like this it was just absolutely ridiculous-! “Excuse you!” he tried to sound irritated, “You’re going to end up breaking something one day”.

Of course, that didn’t deter Link in the slightest. He was all about breaking things. They stood there for a second, before finally Link let go. After a moment of debate, Revali said “I want to show you something”. He needed something else to distract him from his fluster.

Curious, Link let himself be led down the twisting stairs to the largest landing in all of rito village. “Try not to be too amazed” Revali threw over his shoulder, sauntering over to the edge of the landing.

Link watched as he knelt low to the ground, almost in a crouch. He spread his arms out to hover above the ground. A second of hesitation, and then…

The wind picked up immensely, nearly sweeping Link off of his feet. Revali was clearly expecting this, as he let it carry him into the sky, shooting off like a rocket.

With wonder, Link stared up at the sky Revali disappeared into, watching the rito swoop around and around, quick as the arrows he shot.

Always so far above him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, on thursday who hasn’t even started writing the chapter: Okay, well I’ve got two full days to do this so I’ll just quickly get all my schoolwork done and-
> 
> Art teacher: Put together a slideshow of 10 photos
> 
> Me: ok a bit time consuming, I guess I’ll go to the park to get them-
> 
> Humanities teacher: Read 25 pages and fill out these three forms
> 
> Me: Okay that’ll take another hour or three since I need to go back to find specific examples of things in the reading but I’m sure I can-
> 
> Biology teacher: How about you guys each make a cell model that’s due tomorrow? It’ll be fun :D
> 
> Me: 
> 
> Biology teacher: And it has to be 3D. 
> 
> Long story short, that’s why this chapter is late. After an entire night just doing/stressing about homework, I didn’t have the energy to work on the chapter ;-; I almost uploaded this chapter sunday but had a sudden bout of productivity.


	36. Petty and Pathetic pt 1 Revali’s flap

Vah Medoh was finally up and running.

It was strange, how the machine attached to him. It’s presence lingered in the back of his mind, like snow soothing a wound on the back of his neck. Comforting, chilly, and strangely abnormal. Part of him knew it wasn't supposed to be there, but he was getting used to it.

They didn’t speak exactly, but they kind of fed ideas into his brain. Which could be annoying at times. Sometimes he couldn’t tell who was thinking what. He was just flying around, minding his own business when suddenly out of nowhere, he’d think to himself ‘the fourth furnace is leaking fuel’. 

He knew Medoh was trying to be helpful, but that mental record scratch had almost made him crash into a tree.

And then there was… the princess. They’d spent the last two days getting Medoh up and running, Revali was quickly getting used to being Medoh’s pilot. It wasn’t anything fancy, but turning and elevating was getting easier. They hadn’t tested the weapons at all yet. She seemed oddly hurried for some reason, not that Revali wasn’t keeping pace, he just wanted to know why she was so eager to get away from him.

To tell the truth, that concern was second to what Revali was focused on. 

That knight, her name spoken like a mantra, was here. It took awhile for him to notice since she hadn’t arrived with the princess. Captain Renea, supposedly the best swordwoman among the hylian ranks. Did she think herself so far above him that she wouldn’t even bother to talk to him? That she couldn’t even care to see her new ally?

He waited for her to come and find him, for her judgement of his skill. But her focus stayed firmly on the princess, she didn’t even bat him an eye. Revali could even see her now, down there, making her way down to the landing.

Renea herself didn’t know what to think of the rito. She hadn’t even met him yet, and she didn’t really want to. Her focus was on the princess first, and the rito second.

She stared up at the mighty divine beast. Not a few days ago it was grounded, buried within the folds of the Hebra mountains, now it worked as if ten thousand years hadn’t passed since it’s last use. Though, she hadn’t seen much of it’s pilot, supposedly the best of the rito warriors.

As Renea stepped over the floorboards of the landing, a sudden whirlwind rose up. She tensed, grounding herself as to not be blown away. Over the edge of the railing, the rito appeared. Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear.

He landed with a flourish, the wind settled- clearly his doing. “Impressive I know” Revali folded his arms smugly, “Very few can achieve a mastery of the sky”. He motioned with his hands “Yet I have made an art of creating an updraft that allows me to soar. It’s considered to be quite the masterpiece of aerial techniques, even among the rito”. He turned to the side and struck a pose as he said this. Even still, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

Renea stared as he continued his little speech “With proper utilization of my superior skills, I don’t see why we couldn’t easily dispense with Ganon”. She didn’t know what to make of his confidence.

“Yes, your skill with the divine beast will be-” of course, Revali wasn’t done talking just yet. No, he just had to interrupt her because he had to finish first. (That’s what she said).

Revali hopped off the railing “Now then, my ability to explore the firmament is certainly of note…”. Renea looked on wearily as he approached. He was confident, too confident maybe, and she didn’t like that in a soldier.

He got to her side, “But let’s not- pardon me for being so blunt- let’s not forget the fact that I am the most skilled archer of all the rito”. She narrowed her eyes, not exactly liking where this was going.

Revali started to circle her “Yet despite these truths, it seems I’ve been tapped to merely assist you.” 

Oh.

So that’s how it was going to be. His pride just couldn’t take the fact that he wouldn’t be fighting ganon himself. He was just doing this in some twisted attempt to assert dominance over her. Well, that wasn’t happening.

“...All because you happen to have that little darkness sealing sword… oh, wait” He looked at her with a cocky look “You don’t even have it yet, do you?” he asked rhetorically. The look she gave him in response was everything he’d been expecting. Good, he wanted her to know his doubt.

“I’ll pull the sword,” she replied, coldly.

“We’re putting a lot of blind faith into someone who doesn’t even have the sword when Vah Medoh is already at the ready. I mean, it’s just… asinine.” Revali paused a bit for effect.

She was very clearly boiling with anger, struggling not to heat up like a tea kettle. While Renea figured out how to respond without completely slandering this bird brain, Revali continued the conversation for her.

“Unless... you think you can prove me wrong?” he leaned in close. She may have been taller than him, but he seemed to loom over her. “Maybe we should just settle this one on one?”. He’d be itching for that, a proper chance to see just how good this knight really was. To show her just how much BETTER he was.

The glint in her eye returned “Name the time and place” she said, hand going behind her to grip her sword hilt. Renea was really to show this oversized chicken that even if he was the best of the rito, she was still the best of the hylians.

“Now is fine” he said grinning. That was the reaction he wanted, she was predictable. “But where… oh, I know- how about up there!” he threw out his arm to gesture at Vah Medoh, shining beautifully in the distance.

Her confused look was worth more than diamond. “Oh you must pardon me!” he crowed before she could respond. “I forgot you have no way of making it up to that divine beast on your own!”.

The knight’s outraged cry of “Hey! Wait!” was lost in the wind as Revali threw himself up into the sky. Within seconds the only trace of him left was the mocking encouragement yelled behind him.

“Good luck sealing the darkness!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for three short chapters in a row, two of these were just me writing out the game scenes (which are short) and “Gale” is pretty much all filler. I promise the next two chapters are gonna be much longer and interesting. We’ll return to your regularly scheduled humor in about 3 to 5 chapters.


	37. Petty and Pathetic pt 2 Saving Korok Forest

It felt so weird. It’d only been a week, but still- being outside of Hebra was a little abnormal for Revali. It wasn’t like he’d never traveled before, but this was different. This wasn’t just visiting somewhere else, he was headed into a fight.

After leaving for the castle, Revali met his new allies- Mipha, and Daruk, before they immediately had to rush to gerudo town to deal with the yiga amassed there. Not two days after that, they received word that monster forces were gathering in the great hyrule forest. The one famous for turning people around until they found it’s beginning, over and over again. 

They could already see, just from the cliffs surrounding the forest that it was completely swamped with monsters. Hinoxes, Lynels, camps of every shape and size. Revali, naturally, was dispatched to deal with them via Vah Medoh, cleverly named after Lady Medli, a rito of old.

One by one, the monsters went down, the camps crumbled, and they all faded into black smoke. Vah Medoh barely even had a scratch. Revali would be lying if he said he wasn’t preening just a bit as he got back. Especially thinking of what the chieftess said before he left.

“Revali, how long do you expect us to put up with your prattle, huh?” Urbosa asked him.

Revali huffed, they’d put up with his ‘prattle’ for as long as they wanted him on their side. It was the princess who wanted him for Vah Medoh, not the other way around. He didn’t even need to say anything as they entered the forest, his skill spoke for him.

When Princess Zelda herself appointed Revali as Vah Medoh’s pilot, he was expecting battles, to push himself harder and faster in preparation to fight Calamity ganon. Not… whatever field trip this was. Honestly, if all the monsters were gathering in Hyrule forest, he’d say the easiest solution was to just burn it.

Instead he was here, watching the captain as she attempted to guide them through the forest. Finally, Revali couldn’t take it anymore. 

“I think you’re just getting us more lost” Revali remarked, as they ended up at the same flaming torch they’d passed moments ago. Renea had decided to lead the way, but was doing a pretty poor job of it considering they found no monsters yet. She didn’t respond, but turned her head to glare a bit.

“Well, it is quite the fog…” Princess Mipha remarked. Which was true, even Revali had to admit that the blizzards of Hebra had nothing on this. Anything less than five feet away turned into a blurry figure, and everything outside that was nothing more than a cloud of white. Revali didn’t know fog could have mirages, but apparently this one could.

“Are we even making progress?” Revali gestured to the torch. “We could just be going around in circles”, which was most likely the truth. Yet he didn’t understand, they were so sure not to shift a centimeter off course this time. But as he looked at the ground, there were his own footprints, fresh from not ten minutes ago.

“Good point” Daruk chimed in “If only someone could fly above and scout the way” Revali rolled his eyes at the very obvious jab at him. 

“As if I could see anything through this muck” he huffed. The fog was as thick as hearty soup and twice as dizzying. Not to mention he was starting to hear some sort of buzzing… or ringing sound. “Honestly, do you even think before you speak?”.

“Stop squabbling” Renea shot over her shoulder, irking Revali even more. 

“Aren’t you busy getting us more lost? Who even decided you should lead the way, after all anyone can carry a torch” he bit back. 

He could see Renea looking back to retort, but to his satisfaction she was cut off by Urbosa. “Getting lost is the least of our worries” She chimed in “If something attacked us, we wouldn’t see it coming”. How would they even find us? Revali wondered, we’re just as veiled as they are.

“Yes” princess Zelda agreed from beside her “We must be prepared for even the most unusual…” the words died in her mouth as she caught sight of something that was certainly unusual. Revali didn’t think anything of it, until he heard a high pitched voice from behind him cry out.

“Shaka!”

The thing jumped around, swinging around red… somethings. “Wee-hee-hee! Finally, finally, finally! Somebody sees me!” they yelled as the group stared.

“Huh? Where’d you come from?” Daruk asked.

“And who… are you?” Zelda added.

And WHAT are you, Revali would've chipped in, but didn’t. Did this forest actually have mirages?

“Oh, me? I am the one who brings song and dance to korok forest! Hestu!” it finally clicked in Revali’s head as the thing swung it’s maracas around. Sparkly bright red bubbles popped out of the ends of it’s instrument, drawing up an old memory in Revali’s memory, originating from the end of summer.

\---  
Link proudly held the rock above his head, just as the leaf underneath it hopped around in congratulation. He watched, dumbstruck as the leaf handed Link something shiny.

“What is that?” Revali asked. The thing seemed to giggle madly being referred to. 

Link grinned at him ‘K-O-R-O-K’ he signed ‘A tree spirit’ he clarified. Revali gave him an even more questioning look ‘they’re forest children, magic trees basically. They like to hide puzzles all around the place’ he said.

“How was that a puzzle?” Revali asked, “and… wait, what is that?” he pointed at the shiny thing in Link’s hand.

‘Seed’ he responded, ‘A bunch of the younger ones stole the seeds out of an older one’s pair of maracas, so I’m getting them back for him’. Revali didn’t even want to touch how weird that statement was. A story for when they weren’t out in the middle of a snowy mountain.

I’m surprised you can even see them’ Link added ‘not many can’.

“Oh, really?” Revali stared at the little leaf person, “Well I guess that just makes me even more talented then”.  
\--

Revali came back to reality as Zelda asked “A korok?”. A big one too, Revali had only ever seen the small ones that snuck into rito village to play pranks on him. He hated koroks. Somewhere in the back of his head, he remembered Link mentioning there were at least nine hundred of them living in the forest. Well, he supposed that no other forest could even hold nine hundred of them.

Daruk threw his arms up “That’s great! Mind guidin’ us through the fog then?” he asked. 

“Shoko…” The tree drooped, maracas slumping to the ground. “I’d love to get home myself… but there are big scary monsters in the woods, and I can’t get past them”. Was it serious? It was easily twice as big as any bokoblin or Lizalfos, it could probably even be taller than a moblin if it stood up straight. Hell, one good whack from one of those maracas could probably take care of a few monsters.

Revali folded his arms, “You could probably sneak right on by if you didn’t have those noisy maracas”, which was the truth. The tree, bush, thing- whatever it was practically jingled with every step as if it were filled with bells. Sure it was giant, but it’d proven to be more than invisible enough a minute ago.

Urbosa stepped forward, waving Revali off “Oh nevermind him”. He huffed at that, chieftess or not, he hated being dismissed so easily. “That’s actually our business in the forest, if you lead the way, we can handle the monsters for you”. 

The tree, Hestu, immediately perked up at this- if a tree could perk. “Oh really?! Woo-hoo! Yaaaaaay!” it swung it’s maracas from side to side. If Revali didn’t know better, he’d say they were attached to its hands. “In that case, follow! Follow!” it hopped around and started walking down the path Revali swears they’d just passed a minute ago.

He watched Mipha and Zelda exchange a hesitant look, but they went after the tree. Seriously? Directions from a tree? Well, he supposed it was magic. It felt like some sort of child's poem- oh who could know the forest better than a tree itself?

Revali found himself shrugging, well, when in hyrule castle, do as the hylians do. Even if what the hylians do is insane or at the very least highly questionable. He should know, he’s had to deal with one that’s both.

How did my life come to this? He boredly wondered to himself. Following a magic, jingling tree, through a magic mist maze to defeat some monsters so it can get home. 

Couldn’t get any stranger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this chapter was going to involve a scene of Renea and Revali fighting in a rewrite of the Vah Medoh scene before the korok forest in age of calamity, but I wrote the whole thing with Hestu first so when I went back to scene, I realized he says stuff specific to Link. Specifically “this nobody”, but he can’t call her a nobody because she’s got a rank and supposed title of swordsman. And it was already 7 pm so I just decided to wrap up with a bit of off screen fighting.
> 
> I know I said I was gonna do something for valentines, but honestly I just can't think of anything to write about. :p sorry to hype you up.


	38. The Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to post the chapter early because it's already written out, and between my photography assignment, my biology assignment, and catching up on the last 3 months of genshin impact in the form of violent hyperfixation, I'm probably gonna forget to post the chapter anyways so here. Happy day.

It felt sometimes like Link couldn’t keep track of the days anymore. It snowed, and snowed, and snowed some more. Some days he slept in, waking up bleary eyed and wondering why there wasn’t an impatient rito banging on his door, before he remembered Revali wasn’t there, wasn’t even in Hebra.

He was going to the castle, to be titled champion of the divine beast Vah Medoh. Named after Lady Medli, and oh if that didn’t give him memories. When he thought of Medli, he remembered beautiful notes on a harp, a song that carried across the wind- sang by invisible voices, conducted by his hand. But Link didn’t long for the past, he knew it was always still in his heart.

Link was a straightforward person, he always had been. Slay a monster, get a key, solve a puzzle, save a princess. Every series of events were linked to each other. Which is why his head was currently abuzz with thoughts. He shook himself out of it, finally focusing back on the cutting board beneath his hands.

He’d been drifting again, thinking of the past. When his eyes refocused he was back in his house, barely lit, with the only light coming from the fire under the simmering pot.

How long had he been standing there? None of the raw ingredients had been cut, yet the pot was already boiling. He was spacing out again, Link couldn’t even focus on his one saving grace when it came to thinking, cooking. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything until his buzzing thoughts were sorted and put away.

With a small sigh, Link grabbed the things on the table. Carrot, mushroom, milk, wheat, all of them went into the pot, thrown in half haphazardly. A cheerful tune made up of clinking glasses filled the air. It’d been a while since he was too tired to make it by hand instead of with magic. By the time the finished food sat in the middle of the pot, the product of magic, Link was already out the door.

He didn’t think about the food, when he got back it would still be fresh off the pot, no matter how late he was.

He tried to focus on the snow in front of him, hoping the cold would help him focus. But if anything, it just made him get lost in his own head faster. The wind whipped snowflakes around, cold biting at his cheeks and nose, turning them flushed.

It had never been a hard decision. Always a yes.

Always starting off subtly, a single problem that suddenly turned into a multitude of them, which always led back to a great evil. A kidnapping, a curse, some form of dastardly deed leaving people in panic. Not this time though.

Link stared at the snow, listening to how his boots crunched and the wind howled around him, but all he could think about was the past. This time was so different, he’d woken up in a shrine on a plateau, just after saving the world yet another time. Had it really been a hundred years already since he went under? Resurrection was different from reincarnation, but he still kept his memories, so he didn’t really care.

He’d gotten to work quickly, he hit the ground running trying to find as many shrines as quickly as possible. Scouring the land with the ancient technology left for him by the sheikah. The divine beasts had been buried, but there were already rumors of the calamity resurfacing. I have to work fast, he had thought. Each spirit orb was exchanged for a vessel, each vessel going into his chest to make him stronger, faster, more durable. Preparing for what would happen next. 

But then… nothing. He waited, and waited, and waited some more. While there were monsters it was nothing he couldn’t handle. There was no evil deed though, no person that needed saving. For the first time in forever, Link turned 18 before evil arose.

He was surprised to find that the people were already well aware of the calamity’s rising, and that they were preparing for it. Four divine beasts, and training the princess as well. Usually prophecies were nothing but old whispered legends that faded into wive’s tales, not this time. Hyrule was prepared to fight.

Then it happened, there was a thought that niggled in the back of his head.

What if… this time the world had no need of a hero?

It had always been an easy decision. When the world descended into chaos, when there was no hope left and the people were left scattered, Link had always jumped into the fray without hesitation. When he was asked ‘will you help us, hero?’ the answer was always yes.

Link couldn’t deny that he craved adventure, loved it to his very core. But when it came down to it, he never actually could say no, could he? When evil descended, monsters attacked, and everything was left on fire- it wasn’t as if he could just tell the world he wasn’t saving it. No, it was always a yes- without a doubt.

Could he really be a slave to his own destiny if he wanted it?

These thoughts swirled around his head, as they had for the past centuries. Always the hero, the bright shining light of courage. 

For a while, he’d been pretty much free. Not concerned with the title of ‘hero’, no princess Zelda around to save. His only concerns were what he was going to cook next, which was great. He’d been getting a bit rusty. He’d explored the region, he’d climbed it’s every mountain, swam it’s every waters, and when all was said and done he’d settled down and… made friends.

But, that was the scary side of it.

Revali was headed to fight a battle, the very same battle Link had fought a hundred times. He knew how much damage a monster like ganon could do. How easy it would be for the rito to underestimate his opponent. If Link was wrong, if this lifetime would need him after all, then Revali would pay the price.

His head swam, eyes unfocused again. Link watched his footprints in the snow, appear only to be covered up by the flurry that rushed all around him. The wind was howling, it was dark outside.

It was a cycle, wasn’t it? There never was the idea that one day, all would be said and done. There would always be a monster to fight, a princess to save, a castle to defend, and a hero to do it all. But despite that looming thought, Link had always been happy to do it. He accepted the challenge, welcomed it even. Not to prove himself, he’d already been proven. But out of the desire for adventure. Even now he still kept himself busy, fighting monsters, exploring the land, seeing what trouble he could find and fix. Link had never even considered the possibility of an end to it all.

Hyrule was preparing for battle, and Link wasn’t sure what to think.

But for the first time in forever… it was actually a choice.

A choice to fight, to be the one to slay the evil. There had never been anyone that could. Always him, always princess Zelda, always the two members of the triforce. Fighting against the one who, long ago was their third.

When he told Revali to be careful, he meant it. Every single time ganon rose was different, it was too easy to make a wrong move, to not see something coming. Ganon had always kept Link on his toes, always a new monster, a new trick. Link had gotten the hang of being adaptable, he wasn’t sure if Revali would.

The rito seemed dead set on fighting Ganon too. Maybe if Link had gone with him…

No, he could take care of himself. He wasn’t going to die just because Link wasn’t there to protect him. Link never had the urge to be a show off, but part of him thought maybe if he could impress the rito… well, Revali had shown that he hated being shown up more than anything. 

He was lucky to have as good a friend as Revali, he hoped it lasted.

A rumbling shook him out of his head, he had to throw out his arms to keep his balance as he was suddenly thrown a good deal in the air by the ground. It took him a second to realize he recognized the icy surface under his feet, and the chunk of black ore now in front of him. It made him smile.

‘Hi Charline’ he signed to the air.

Charline rumbled, clearly getting ready for a fight. Link did too, pulling a stone smasher from the sheikah slate, it was really handy for weapons. If there’s one thing he would always know, it was fighting.

With a grin probably that of a manic, Link swung the smasher, letting its weight spin him round and round until it smacked over and over again into the ore, slowly breaking it to pieces. With the last of his momentum, he lifted it over his head to smash it down right on top of the ore chunk. It crumbled to pieces.

Charline fell to the floor, disappearing into a puff of smoke and some rare gems. Link smiled, head finally clear.

He always was the hero when the world needed him, that would never change. But for the first time, that when was an if. And if the world needed him, then he was going to save it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Discuss.


	39. Missed

Revali never missed.

At this point it was less of a brag and more of a fact. He didn’t need to focus to hit a target, it was automatic. If he missed, it was only because his target moved- and it was rare anything moved faster then him while focused.

He wasn’t blind, he knew of what the hylians thought of his personality. He knew the other champion’s didn’t like him very much. Skill and prowess were the most respected among the rito, but here he was demoted to being ‘the prick that control’s Vah Medoh’.

The arrow sunk deep into the tree. Such a far target, but it didn’t really feel like an accomplishment anymore. Revali lowered his bow, eyeing it. Such a lovely day, wasted on another failed excursion for the princess. Honestly, why were they even here if they weren’t even allowed near the spring? 

He knew Daruk could tell he was annoyed, but decided to voice it anyway. “What are we even doing here?” Revali huffed.

“Er… protecting the princess?” Daruk responded, which was obvious.

“I know THAT” Revali spat, “I’m just wondering why they need all four of us to protect the princess, and why only one guard is permitted to go up and actually defend her while the rest of us stay here”. He didn’t know about hylians, but in rito culture, leaving someone waiting for several hours on end unnecessarily was RUDE.

“I mean, you can’t be mad at the princess for-” 

“I’m not mad at the princess” Revali stopped that train of thought right then and there. The princess was if anything having it worse than them, she’d been here just as long up on the mountain in an ice cold spring. Revali gave her his greatest sympathies, even if it didn’t look like it. So much hard work, and nothing to show for it. From what he’d seen, the princess was rather smart- such intelligence wasted on rituals of prosperity. “I’m mad at the one deciding all this” what a fool.

Daruk sat back down in the grass, “Yeah… Can’t argue with that…” he muttered.

The King. Those were the words left unsaid. As much as Revali would love to badmouth the king, doing such a thing earned black stains on your reputation. It was true that King Rhoam’s kingdom was large and wealthy, it’s people protected and happy. But the king believed too heavily in traditions, and seemed to think the power of the triforce was their only saving grace.

Zelda, the ever dedicated daughter she was, complied with his every demand without hesitation. Revali knew the feeling all too well. To resist meant arguments, and after years it really wore down on you.

“Why don’t you relax?” Mipha offered, “Sit down maybe”. She and Daruk were sat under the shade of one of the nearby trees. The blue skies of the afternoon were fading into evening. 

Revali rolled his eyes, he’d had enough of sitting. The way they pitched their need for his help made it sound like he’d have nay a moment’s rest, but the way things were going now made him think otherwise. “Sure” he said “While we’re at it, we could probably just go to sleep”. He huffed “3 of the greatest warriors of hyrule, asleep in a field. How ridiculous”.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to rest a bit,” she said back.

“If I wanted to rest,” he said, drawing his bow again “I would’ve stayed home”. The arrow flew through the air, hitting the tree yet again. Only a nick under the first one. 

Mipha sighed, watched as the rito flew to the tree to get his arrows back for the dozenth time. Watching him be this restless was making her restless. “Does he ever stop?” she puffed. The princess had been trying her best to be diplomatic, but his constant remarks proved difficult to be polite too. He was respectful to the princesses of the group, but even then she didn’t like how “above it all” Revali seemed.

“From what we’ve been seeing, nope” Daruk sighed. “Some people just need a good boulder to the head, knock him off that high horse, y’know?”. Mipha nodded, agreeing. There was stubbornness, and then there was Revali. That bird would argue to the ends of the world with someone, the most he would ever coincide was a tie.

The arrows were ripped from the trunk of the tree with some effort. Too much power put into the shot, some of the bark came with the arrow. He inspected it’s tip, broken. As he looked, the fine point of the arrow was now lodged inside the tree trunk. As much as Revali was tempted to shoot again, he knew it would probably only result in more broken arrows. This was ridiculous, he couldn’t focus.

With a silent huff, Revali strode back up the hill to where Mipha and Daruk chatted quietly. “...have it out for everyone. I know Urbosa’s been irritated with that” Daruk said, their attention snapped to him as the rito approached.

Revali sat next to the two, under the shade of the tree. Leaving a good foot between him and Mipha. He knelt, folding his hands in his lap to keep them from drawing his bow again. They clammed up immediately, but it was fine. Revali knew exactly what they were talking about, he didn’t care. It didn’t matter what they thought of him, they were wrong. He doesn't “have it out for anyone”, he just wouldn’t stand for people’s nonsense. Was that really so wrong?

The awkward silence was deafening, not even the wind dare whistle.

“No no, it’s quite alright” Revali said sarcastically, “I could still hear you from meters away, what difference does a few feet make?”.

They shifted uncomfortably, before Mipha said “Erm, Daruk. What were you speaking of again earlier? Rock roast?”. Ah, yes. Rock roast, the gorons on death mountain ate minerals. Supposedly some of them took on odd shapes and then were heated up to eat.

“Yeah!” he agreed readily, “Next time we go to death mountain, I’ll be sure to get enough for everybody!”.

“Joy…” Revali muttered. But, it did make him think of something… Soon enough, he found himself tuning out their conversation.

\---  
“You can’t just put the whole chunk of salt into the pan like that!” Revali squawked, “That’s not how any of that works!” he yelled.

‘Oh I’m sorry, who’s teaching who?’ Link asked back. That insane little hylian was trying to kill him with salt poisoning, that’s what he was. In his hand he held a hunk of rock salt the size of his own hand. Revali was beginning to have second thoughts about asking Link about his recipes.

“Are you kidding me?” Revali asked, “I’m not stupid, I know it’s impossible to eat that when it’s in one hunk” he said. At the gleam of Link’s mischievous eyes, he quickly added “For any normal person! Not you, you freak of nature”. The hylian only laughed at his statement. 

‘I’ll cook this whole thing into a dish and it’ll taste delicious’ Link signed smugly. 

“I don’t need to know a single thing about cooking to know you’re overdosing on salt. When you fall over and die because of your own stupidly prideful mistakings, I’ll put the leftover salt on your grave” Revali responded with dry sarcasm.

Link didn’t say anything, only started snatching up ingredients from the counter. He grabbed salt, a whole armored carp, and the entire stick of butter. With way too much confidence for someone within hitting range, Link strode over to the cooking pot. Revali guessed his intentions before he even threw the ingredients in.

“Really?” he irritatedly asked “A waste of a perfectly good-”. Revali’s beak proceeded to hang open as he watched the fish and ingredients quite literally start JUMPING AROUND. A buzzing, light hearted tune of clinking filled the air, before with one final leap, all the ingredients converged in the middle to form a dish. Cooked fish, salted, buttered, and fully plated as well.

It was about three seconds before Link jokingly closed Revali’s jaw, and another five before the rito started ranting about unfair cooking advantages. The grin never left Link’s face.  
\---

Revali missed that. He didn’t know it at the time, but he did. He hated these other hylian chefs that cared too much about the taste, and nothing about the rest of the dish. “How can you call meat cooked if it’s still pink in the middle?” he recalled saying. 

He’d never admit it up front, but if a part of him would 100% rather be back in Hebra with Link, then Revali didn’t say it out loud. 

“There they are,” Mipha said, which shook Revali out of his thoughts. He looked, and indeed, there was the princess and chieftess. He was glad that for once, that despicable knight was left behind. They walked down the mountain, and they all could do nothing but hope. The three immediately got up and rushed to her side to ask if anything had happened.

But, by her slow walk and disheartened gaze, Revali felt he already knew the answer. 

“Well? Don’t keep us in suspense.” Daruk questioned “How’d everything go up there on the mountain?”. Softly, sadly, the princess shook her head. They all wilted at the response.

It just wasn’t fair.

“So you didn’t feel anything?” Revali prodded a little, just to be sure “No power at all?”.

“I’m sorry, no,” Zelda said. She shouldn’t have been apologizing though, it wasn’t of her fault. It was out of her hands and control.

“Then let’s move on” Urbosa put a hand on Zelda’s shoulder, “You’ve done all you could” she said, softly steering the princess back down the path. 

Their trip down the mountain was as uneventful as it was upwards, the others offered advice on how to maybe summon it- recalling what worked for them. But Revali knew it wouldn’t work, she was dedicated. Such a dedicated disciple would have found a way that worked by now, if there was any way to force the power to the surface.

That made him think of forging his power yet again… which led him back to thinking of Hebra, which led him back to Link.

It didn’t make sense. Throughout his life, he was more than content to watch people come and go. Even with his family, he didn’t bother to keep track of when he’d seen them last. In fact, he usually dreaded when he’d see them next. Tarry town seemed lovely, but he’d rather avoid it at all costs.

Now was different though. Because some stupid little hylian had hollowed out a hole in his heart, and refused to leave it. 

They passed the tree with arrow marks stuck into it, an arrows tip hidden somewhere deep inside. Revali never missed of course. 

So why was it he missed Link?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, writing the chapter: I know so many elegant words and am so smart.  
> Also me: (Has to google the word I just used in a sentence).
> 
> I swear I know what prosperity means. But legit I forgot what a tree trunk was called and almost wrote “tree stem” XD.
> 
> Because of some concerns expressed, I’m going to put it here that this writing will have a happy ending. Yes, yes, I know- spoilers.


	40. Sword

The new scarf was beautiful.

Crafted in the lovely blue of the royal family, it hung on his neck like it was made for it- and it was. Tailored by the princess for Revali and Revali only. Medoh’s symbol printed proudly on the front, a symbol of who he was. A champion.

...it was a bit of a flashy title if you asked him. Flashy everything really, an entire ceremony with all the kingdom’s guards, a speech from the king, standing in place for nearly an hour while a bunch of old rites and tributes were read out, Hylians just loved their formality didn’t they. A title for everything, it seemed. Really, a two hour ceremony seemed just excessive.

Daruk seemed to agree, “All that just to talk? Speeches aren’t meant to be that long, are they?” He asked. 

“I suppose, because gorons have no form of monarchy, that it does seem a bit unusual. But I’ve seen my fair share of debates” Mipha patted the stone giant’s arm, “You’ll do fine Daruk”.

Of course, no need to practice standing still- he was already a stone. “I’m going to get some fresh air” Revali excused himself from the room, not like the other champions were paying attention to him anyways. It was all just a bit too much, too pompous, too tiring, too hylian.

Rito were very minimalistic, usually needing only one roost to a couple. The castle was very forgien to him, so many halls and corridors just to make things needlessly complicated. Part of him missed his home, his roost where everything was in arms reach. Here you could never touch the walls, and the ceilings stretched to the clouds. So many empty rooms and for what? Just to try and take up more space? 

Part of him was tempted to find out if it was enough room to stretch his wings before the ceremony started. But the more rational part knew that if he took off, he probably wouldn’t come back down in time. Flying was addictive, there were some days he wanted to just stay up in the sky, never come back down again.

From where he stood, the windows lit up the room- stretching from the floor to the ceiling, granting a magnificent view of the gardens. And more importantly, it's center, where a shiny glint of sunlight caught his eye.

There it was.

Just sitting in the middle of the courtyard, innocently. It looked polished, new, gleaming in the morning sun. It did not look like a sword that had been sat there for ten thousand years.

Revali was no fool, he knew the stories. An ancient relic protected by the hyrulian family. Ten thousand years ago, a hero had stood there, and plunged the sword into the stonework of the castle where it would wait for the next one. And wait it did, no rust, no vines, the sword stood the test of time with impeccable patience. 

Over the ages, there were people who were skeptical, Revali himself being one. He was not a fool though. That sword had been sawed at, slashed, hacked, and even attempted to be uprooted. He maybe skeptical of its history, but certainly no ordinary sword could withstand several thousand years of failed attempts to get it out. He could see it even from where he stood, the stone around it maybe damaged, but that sword had not moved an inch. 

Many had tried to remove it, all had failed.

Stay there for all eternity, he thought to himself, because I’m going to be the one to do your job for you.

The sword did not reply, it only stood there, shining in the light with an ethereal holiness, it radiated bravery, the temptation to come and try, to see if he was the one. But he didn’t bother moving, he was no swordsman- no hylian sword would be his. It was useless to hope, and even more useless to try. He hoped that sword stayed useless, that it had no more purpose to serve.

Revali didn’t even notice how much his attention was locked onto the sword until something else in the courtyard moved. Finally he snapped out of his thoughts, turning to look at who had entered the garden. He couldn’t stop his disdain from emerging.

It was her again, the woman he fought with constantly. Fighting a few battles with someone didn’t make them friends, barely acquaintances. He still hated her. She was promising in her skill, Revali was itching for one round. Just because she was supposedly the inheritor of the sword doesn’t mean anything. She was still weak, weaker than him.

Even the strongest of the hylians wouldn’t compare, he’d show them all.

She walked through the garden, donned in blue instead of her usual clunky armor. Why did she even get the title of champion anyways? She didn’t control a divine beast, being the princess’s guard meant nothing compared to that. Just handed the title of divine savior without any evidence. Renea strode up to the sword, her intentions clear.

As he watched, the woman tightly grasped the hilt, taking a deep breath before finally attempting to pull the sword. She struggled and strained against it, very clearly using all of her might to try and get it to budge. 

No luck, after a sturdy, long few seconds, she fell to one knee, and eventually the other. Her hands drew back from the hilt to grab at her own chest, gasping.

“Poor Renea” Revali jumped a little at the voice behind him. It turned out just to be an old woman, an elder. “Oh, did I startle you? My apologies, young one” the old woman hobbled up to the window beside him. Normally he’d bristle at being called a young one, but she was old enough that she probably called everyone under 60 young.

The woman turned her attention back to the courtyard. “There lies the sword that seals the darkness, unmoved for centuries. Many have tried to pull it from its resting place, none have succeeded”.

Her old eyes watched the figure inside the courtyard, who was glaring at the sword, seeming frustrated with it. “Captain Renea is the most promising of all the soldiers of hyrule. Able to floor monsters with sweeping strikes and single blows. She has been bestowed the title of the best swordswoman in hyrule” the old sheikah chuckled to herself. 

Titles meant nothing to Revali.

“Yet despite all that, the sword continues to reject her. Every single week, she comes here and attempts to claim the sword...” They both watched as she stormed away from the sword, walking back up the steps out of the castle garden “and every single week she leaves, empty handed”.

“How can you be so sure the sword is truly hers?” He asked skeptically. Revali wasn’t blind, he saw the white mark of a sword printed on the collar of her tunic. How could the hylians place such blind faith in someone who already failed to pull the sword so many times.

The woman hummed, “She is the best swordsman ever seen, if there would be another sword wielder greater than her, they have yet to appear”. Revali raised an eyebrow.

“Many assume it is just like the princess’s power, that one day she will finally be able to access it” the woman continued “They have hope, believing that if she can’t, then nobody can”.

She paused “but, I suppose in truth, we have no way of truly knowing until it happens”.

The woman hobbled away, humming to herself- crazy old bat. Revali continued staring at the sword, it’s flirtatious gleam inviting him to try to pull it. However, he knew he couldn’t- couldn’t wield a sword, what would he even do with it if he could? 

Maybe there’s a legendary bow somewhere out there for me, Revali mused as he too, turned away from the sword. He had a ceremony to get to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that the last like... 5 to 10 chapters have been all plot and deep thought, but I promise we're getting back to the humor next chapter. I SWEAR.
> 
> Quick note: In this au, I realized “if nobody can pull the sword, why is it in korok forest in the first place?” and made it into Excalibur. Also for some reason I thought I already finished this chapter and posted it, so I was very surprised to remember I didn't.

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea, I'm writing it out. Criticism encouraged but please don't attack my poor soft, squishy, heart.
> 
> And feed me comments. I'm always checking for new ones no matter how late to the chapter you are.


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